The efficacy and safety of extended adjuvant temozolomide following concurrent radio-chemotherapy among Egyptian patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme

Alia M Attia; Hanan A Eltybe; Mayada F Sedik; Ahmed Mubarak Hefni; Marwa I Abdelgawad; Ashraf Farrag; Abdelhakeem A Essa; Mohamed M El-Barody; Noha M Attia

The efficacy and safety of extended adjuvant temozolomide following concurrent radio-chemotherapy among Egyptian patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme

Am J Cancer Res. 2022 Jan 15;12(1):355-370. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Alia M Attia¹, Hanan A Eltybe², Mayada F Sedik², Ahmed Mubarak Hefni², Marwa I Abdelgawad³, Ashraf Farrag³, Abdelhakeem A Essa⁴, Mohamed M El-Barody⁵, Noha M Attia⁶

Affiliations

¹ Radiation Oncology Department, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University Assiut 71515, Egypt.
² Department of Medical Oncology and Hematological Malignancies, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University Assiut 71111, Egypt.
³ Clinical Oncology Department, Assiut University Assiut 71111, Egypt.
⁴ Neurosurgery Department, Assiut University Assiut 71111, Egypt.
⁵ Radiology Department, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University Assiut 71111, Egypt.
⁶ Radiology Department, Assiut University Hospital, Assiut University Assiut 71515, Egypt.

PMID: 35141023
PMCID: PMC8822288

Abstract

Although concurrent radio-chemotherapy and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) treatment for 6 cycles has been established as a standard of care for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients, the recommended duration of adjuvant TMZ remains a matter of debate. Hereby, we aimed to report for the first time our experience from Upper Egypt through comparing survival and toxicity profile between two treatment modalities of adjuvant TMZ (> six cycles versus six cycles) and delineating factors of prognostic significance in Egyptian patients with newly diagnosed GBM treated by radiation therapy with concomitant and adjuvant TMZ. Between June 2016 and February 2018, the medical records of 121 patients were eligible to be retrospectively reviewed to extract the study relevant data. All patients received concurrent radio-chemotherapy, followed by TMZ for 6 cycles in 29 patients (Group 1) and for >6 cycles in 26 patients (Group 2). Patients in Group 1 had a median PFS of 15 months (95% CI: 10.215-19.785), while those in Group 2 had a median PFS of 18 months (95% CI: 16.611-19.389). After a median follow up duration of 20 months (range: 12-41), the median OS was 18 months (95% CI: 13.420-22.580) in Group 1 and 22 months (95% CI: 18.777-25.223) in Group 2. There was no statistically significant correlation between the number of chemotherapy cycles and PFS (P=0.513) or OS (P=0.867). The extent of surgical resection was the only independent prognostic factor for both PFS (P=0.015) and OS (P=0.028) by multivariate analysis. Three grade ≥3 hematologic toxicity were encountered in 3 patients. One in the six-cycle group (neutropenia), and two in the extended cycles group (one had neutropenia and the other one developed thrombocytopenia). No statistically significant difference in the toxicity profile between both groups. The results of our study suggest that extended TMZ therapy is safe and tolerable, however it did not significantly improve PFS or OS as compared to the standard six-cycle course. Larger randomized studies are required to shed more light on this issue.

Keywords: Glioblastoma multiforme; adjuvant temozolomide; concurrent radio-chemotherapy; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; survival.