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The management of elderly patients suffering from primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, who represent a rapidly growing population, is challenging. Despite the advances made in PCNSL treatment, the prognosis in older patients remains unsatisfactory. The high risk of systemic and CNS toxicity induced by a high-dose chemotherapy regimen and radiation therapy, respectively, limits the use of consolidation phase treatments in elderly patients and contributes to the poor outcome of these patients. Here, we review the current treatment strategies and ongoing trials proposed for elderly PCNSL patients.
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BACKGROUND: Little is known about diffuse glioma patients infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). METHODS: We performed a descriptive and retrospective analysis of 41 diffuse glioma patients with symptomatic SARS-CoV2 infection during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Confusion with or without fever was the most common neurological symptom (32%) supporting SARS-CoV2 testing in glioma patients with acute and unexplained confusion. Sixteen patients (39%) died after a median delay of 13 days. While multiple clinical, biological, and pathological features, COVID-19- or diffuse glioma-related, at hospital admission appeared to have a pejorative prognostic impact, none was significantly associated with death. Oncological treatments were interrupted at COVID-19 diagnosis and re-initiated with a median delay of 30 days after the end of COVID-19 symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Interestingly, our retrospective study describes for the first time the characteristics of a cohort of diffuse glioma patients with symptomatic COVID-19. Diffuse glioma patients with poorly symptomatic COVID-19 did not come to the attention of physicians and were not enrolled in the study skewing the denominator for prognostic analysis. Further studies are warranted to specify prognosis of overall population of diffuse glioma patients with COVID-19, including asymptomatic patients, and interactions of prognostic factors of both COVID-19 and diffuse gliomas.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: IDH wild-type glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults. At tumor recurrence, treatment decision-making is not standardized; several options include second surgery, reirradiation, and a second line of chemotherapy. In this retrospective monocentric study conducted at the era of WHO 2016 classification, we investigated IDH wild-type glioblastoma patients below the age of 70 to see (i) the clinical benefit of second surgery at recurrence and (ii) the prognostic factors in resected recurrent glioblastoma patients. METHODS: 229 newly diagnosed IDH wild-type glioblastoma patients below the age of 70 treated with the standard of care (SOC) were enrolled in the current study and stratified into two subgroups according to treatment at recurrence: re-resection and no re-resection. RESULTS: All experienced tumor recurrence with a median progression-free survival of 11 months. 25 % of patients were reoperated. Patients reoperated at recurrence had longer post-progression median overall survival compared to their non-reoperated counterparts (14 versus 9 months, p < .05). Initial surgical resection and a long time from the initial diagnosis to the first recurrence were independent prognostic factors for good outcomes in resected recurrent IDH-wild-type glioblastoma patients; however, tumor size before and after surgery did not impact post-surgical survival. CONCLUSION: Our study supports surgical resection at recurrence as therapeutic in IDH wild-type glioblastoma patients aged below 70 and in good clinical condition regardless of preoperative tumor size, particularly in patients who experienced a longer time before first recurrence and surgery at initial diagnosis. Further prospective and larger studies are warranted to validate our findings.