Treatment Strategies for Glioblastoma in the Elderly: What Should We Focus on Compared to Younger Patients.

(1) Background: Although the incidence of glioblastoma (GB) has a peak in patients aged 75-84 years, no standard treatment regimen for elderly patients has been established so far. The goal of this study was to analyze the outcome of GB patients ≥ 65 years to detect predictors with relevant impacts on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). (2) Methods: Medical records referred to our institution from 2006 to 2020 were analyzed. Adult GB patients with clinical data, postoperative MRI data, and ≥1 follow-up investigation after surgical resection were included. The complete cohort was divided into a younger (<65) and an elderly group (≥65 years). Multiple factors regarding OS and PFS were scanned using univariate and multivariable regression with p < 0.05. (3) Results: 1004 patients were included with 322 (61.0%) male individuals in the younger and 267 (56.1%) males in the older cohort. The most common tumor localization was frontal in both groups. Gross total resection (GTR) was the most common surgical procedure in both groups, followed by subtotal resection (STR) (145; 27.5%) in the younger group, and biopsy (156; 32.8%) in the elderly group. Multivariate analyses detected that in the younger cohort, MGMT promoter methylation and GTR were predictors for a longer OS, while MGMT methylation, GTR, and hypofractionated radiation were significantly associated with a longer OS in the elderly group. (4) Conclusions: Elderly patients benefit from surgical resection of GB when they show MGMT promoter methylation, undergo GTR, and receive hypofractionated radiation. Furthermore, MGMT methylation seems to be associated with a longer PFS in elderly patients. Further investigations are required to confirm these findings, especially within prospective radiation therapy studies and molecular examinations.

The influence of radiological tumor growth pattern on sino­nasal health in pituitary adenomas.

Pituitary adenomas are one of the most common mass lesions of the brain and are associated with a reduced quality of life. While transnasal and transsphenoidal endoscopic approaches are considered to deliver similar recovery rates for sino-nasal health (SNH), the impact of radiological tumor growth patterns on SNH has not been evaluated. In the present study, the influence of radiological tumor growth on SNH was examined before and after endoscopic transsphenoidal tumor resection. Patient data were prospectively collected between August 1, 2016 and August 31, 2022. The Knosp and Hardy classifications were used to dichotomize pituitary adenoma lesions into low- and high-graded lesions. SNH was assessed shortly before surgery and at follow-up examinations 3-6 months after operation using the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test for Neurosurgery (SNOT-NC) questionnaire. Fully completed SNOT-NC questionnaires were collected before and after surgery from a total of 101 patients. Independent t-tests showed significantly higher rates of deterioration after surgery in patients with Knosp low-graded lesions compared with those with high-graded tumors for the SNOT-NC total score P=0.048, nasal discomfort P=0.034, sleep problems P=0.024 and visual impairment P=0.042. Pre- and post-operative comparisons for the Knosp low-graded tumor cohort showed an increase of nasal discomfort (P=0.004), while the Knosp high-graded tumor cohort reported decreased visual impairment (P=0.016) after surgery. Assessing the Hardy classification, increased nasal discomfort was reported in patients with high-graded infrasellar tumors after surgery (P=0.046). Growth characteristics of pituitary adenomas based on Knosp and Hardy classifications may influence SNH. Patients with less invasive lesions were revealed to be more prone to experiencing a decrease in SNH, which went beyond the assumed deterioration of 1-3 months. These findings indicate the importance of detailed information regarding SNH as part of every pre-operative patient briefing.

Pre-Surgery Patient Health Contributes to Aggravated Sino-Nasal Outcome and Quality of Life after Pituitary Adenomectomy.

Objectives: The transphenoidal bi-nostril endoscopic resection of pituitary adenomas is regarded as a minimally invasive treatment nowadays. However, sino-nasal outcome and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) might still be impaired after the adenomectomy, depending on patients' prior medical history and health status. A systematic postoperative comparison is required to assess differences in perceived sino-nasal outcome and HRQoL. Methods: In this single-center observational study, we collected data from 81 patients, operated between August 2016 and August 2021, at a 3-6-month follow-up after adenomectomy. We employed the sino-nasal outcome test for neurosurgery (SNOT-NC) and the HRQoL inventory Short Form (SF)-36 to compare sino-nasal and HRQoL outcome in patients with or without allergies, previous nose surgeries, presence of pain, snoring, sleep apnea, usage of continuous positive airway pressure (cpap), and nose drop usage. Results: At the 3-6-month follow-up, patients with previous nasal surgery showed overall reduced subjective sino-nasal health, increased nasal and ear/head discomfort, increased visual impairment, and decreased psychological HRQoL (all p ≤ 0.026) after pituitary adenomectomy. Patients with pain before surgery showed a trend-level aggravated physical HRQoL (p = 0.084). Conclusion: Our data show that patients with previous nasal surgery have an increased risk of an aggravated sino-nasal and HRQoL outcome after pituitary adenomectomy. These patients should be thoroughly informed about potential consequences to induce realistic patient expectations. Moreover, the study shows that patients with moderately severe allergies, snoring, and sleep apnea (± cpap) usually do not have to expect a worsened sino-nasal health and HRQoL outcome.

Effects of physical therapy on hyaluronan clearance and volume regulating hormones in lower limb lymphedema patients: A pilot study.

Lymphedema is manifested as a chronic swelling arising due to stasis in the lymphatic flow. No cure is currently available. A non-invasive treatment is a 3 week complete decongestive therapy (CDT), including manual lymphatic drainage and compression bandaging to control swelling. As CDT leads to mobilization of several liters of fluid, effects of CDT on hyaluronan clearance (maker for lymphatic outflow), volume regulating hormones, total plasma protein as well as plasma density, osmolality and selected electrolytes were investigated. In this pilot study, we assessed hyaluronan and volume regulating hormone responses from plasma samples of nine patients (three males, six females, aged 55 ± 13 years) with lower limb lymphedema stage II-III, before - and after - CDT. A paired non-parametric test (Wilcoxon) was used to assess hormonal and plasma volume changes. Correlation was tested using Spearman's correlation. The main findings of this novel study are that lymphedema patients lost volume and weight after therapy. Hyaluronic acid did not significantly change pre- compared to post-CDT. Aldosterone increased significantly after therapy, while plasma renin activity increased, but not significantly. Plasma total protein, density, osmolality and sodium and chloride did not show differences after CDT. To our knowledge, no study has previously investigated the effects of CDT on volume regulating hormones or electrolytes. To identify the time-course of volume regulating hormones and lymphatic flow changes induced by CDT, future studies should assess these parameters serially over 3 weeks of therapy.