Glioblastoma management in a lower middle-income country: Nationwide study of compliance with standard care protocols and survival outcomes in Ukraine.

Background: The effective treatment of high-grade gliomas is a complex problem that requires ubiquitous implementation of sophisticated therapy protocols. The present study aimed to perform population-based analysis of glioblastoma management in lower-middle-income countries. Methods: The National Cancer Registry of Ukraine was screened for the records of adult patients with primary glioblastomas diagnosed in 2015-2019. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method and a multivariable Cox model. Results: A total of 2973 adult patients with histologically confirmed glioblastoma were included in the study. Mean age of patients was 55.6 ±â€…11.4 years, males slightly prevailed-1541 (51.8%) cases. The completed clinical protocol including surgery followed by chemoradiotherapy was applied only in 658 (19.0%) patients. The minority of patients 743 (25.0%) were treated at the academic medical centers, where patients were more likely to receive combined treatment 70.1% compared with 57.9% (P  = .0001) at the community hospitals. The overall median survival was 10.6 ±â€…0.2 months, and the 2-year survival rate was 17%. The number of utilized treatment modalities contributed to better survival rates and was associated with lower hazard ratio: Protocol with 2 modalities - 0.62 (P = .0001), 3 modalities - 0.48 (P = .0001). Conclusions: The management of glioblastoma in lower-middle-income countries is characterized by insufficient availability of treatment in academic medical centers and low rates of advanced therapy application. Survival analysis showed similar prognostic risk factors and outcomes compared with high-income countries.

Image-guided resection of glioblastoma in eloquent brain areas facilitated by laser surface thermal therapy: clinical outcomes and long-term results.

The increased interest in the application of lasers in neuro-oncology prompted us to present our experience of using the laser technologies in the treatment of cerebral gliomas. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of image-guided laser surface thermal therapy (LSTT) and its influence on survival of patients with glioblastoma (GBM).Data of 91 patients (49 males, 42 females, mean age 51.4 years, range 23-70 years) with supratentorial GBMs located in close vicinity to or within the eloquent brain areas were retrospectively analyzed.All patients were divided into two groups: LSTT group (n = 28) and control group (n = 63). There were no significant differences by gender, age, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score, and tumor location between groups. Total removal in the LSTT group was performed in 67.9%, in the control group-31.7% (p < 0.01); on the contrary, subtotal removal prevailed in the control group-52.4%; in the LSTT group, it was 32.1%. In postoperative period, there was no significant difference in KPS score between the groups (p = 0.89). A higher degree of resection provided an increase in survival rates (p < 0.01). The median overall survival was 15.5 ± 10.5 months, in the LSTT group 18.4 ± 11.7 and in the control group 14.3 ± 9.1 (p = 0.03). The application of image-guided LSTT in patients with GBMs of eloquent brain areas allowed the high rate of complete resection and improved overall survival without the negative effect on the functional status after surgery.