This study was designed to investigate the impact of interim progression of disease (PD) during the surgery-to-radiotherapy interval (SRI) and its predictors in glioblastoma based on MRIs. A total of 222 patients were planned for radiotherapy (RT) and 166 of them were evaluable for the presence of interim PD by 2 separate MRIs. The size criteria from the updated Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria was adopted to determine interim PD. 32 (19.3%) patients experienced interim PD, and their median survival (MS) was shorter than patients without PD in univariate (11.3 vs. 19.6 months, p < 0.001) and multivariate analysis (HR 2.237, 95% CI 1.367-3.660, p = 0.002). The volume of residual enhancing tumor (p = 0.003) and prolongation of the SRI (p = 0.004) were significant predictors of interim PD. Every 1-cc increase in residual enhancing tumor and every 1-day prolongation of the SRI significantly increased the risk of interim PD by 3.9% (p = 0.003) and 8.1% (p = 0.004), respectively. A significant portion of patients demonstrate interim PD during SRI and these patients have poor prognosis. The presence of interim PD should be concerned as a significant confounding factor for stratification in future clinical trials. A baseline pre-RT MRI is essential for accurate disease evaluation and RT-target delineation, especially in patients with larger residual disease after surgery and prolonged SRI due to the high risk of interim PD.
Keywords: Glioblastoma; Interim progression; Radiochemotherapy; Radiotherapy; Temozolomide.