Background: Neurologic status is one of the major prognostic factors in glioblastoma patients; however, no consensus exists on a clinical index for predicting patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between neurologic deficits and clinical outcomes in glioblastoma patients, and to develop a prognostic neurologic index for identifying patients with poor outcomes.
Methods: Patients receiving tumor resection with pathologically confirmed glioblastoma were retrospectively evaluated. The patients' preoperative neurologic deficits were categorized, and patients with poor overall survival (OS) were identified. Other common prognostic factors, including age, performance, imaging findings, and extent of resection, were analyzed.
Results: We evaluated 162 glioblastoma patients receiving tumor resection between February 2000 and December 2011, of whom 54 received adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) alone and 84 received concurrent chemo-RT with temozolomide. At a median follow-up of 57.6 (range 26.3-88.9) months, 26 patients had survived without loss to follow-up. We defined adverse neurologic status by using an index of combined increased intracranial pressure (IICP) and non-IICP signs. In univariate analysis, the median OS of patients with and without adverse neurologic status were 9.6 and 18.7 months, respectively (p < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, adverse neurologic status remained significantly associated with poor OS (hazard ratio 2.18, 95 % confidence interval 1.54-3.10).
Conclusions: Our proposed neurologic index enables significantly identifying glioblastoma patients receiving tumor resection with poor outcomes, independent of other common prognostic factors. Using the index provides a preoperative predictor of prognosis in glioblastoma patients receiving tumor resection.