Association of pre-radiotherapy tumour burden and overall survival in newly diagnosed glioblastoma adjusted for MGMT promoter methylation status

Abstract

Purpose: We retrospectively evaluated the association between postoperative pre-radiotherapy tumour burden and overall survival (OS) adjusted for the prognostic value of O⁶-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma treated with radio-/chemotherapy with temozolomide.

Materials and methods: Patients were included from the CENTRIC (EORTC 26071-22072) and CORE trials if postoperative magnetic resonance imaging scans were available within a timeframe of up to 4weeks before radiotherapy, including both pre- and post-contrast T1w images and at least one T2w sequence (T2w or T2w-FLAIR). Postoperative (residual) pre-radiotherapy contrast-enhanced tumour (CET) volumes and non-enhanced T2w abnormalities (NT2A) tissue volumes were obtained by three-dimensional segmentation. Cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan Meier estimates were used to assess the association of pre-radiotherapy CET/NT2A volume with OS adjusted for known prognostic factors (age, performance status, MGMT status).

Results: 408 tumour (of which 270 MGMT methylated) segmentations were included. Median OS in patients with MGMT methylated tumours was 117 weeks versus 61weeks in MGMT unmethylated tumours (p < 0.001). When stratified for MGMT methylation status, higher CET volume (HR 1.020; 95% confidence interval CI [1.013-1.027]; p < 0.001) and older age (HR 1.664; 95% CI [1.214-2.281]; p = 0.002) were significantly associated with shorter OS while NT2A volume and performance status were not.

Conclusion: Pre-radiotherapy CET volume was strongly associated with OS in patients receiving radio-/chemotherapy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma stratified by MGMT promoter methylation status.

Keywords: Glioblastoma; Magnetic resonance imaging; Overall survival; Radiotherapy; Tumour burden.