Role of irradiation for patients over 80 years old with glioblastoma: a retrospective cohort study

To assess efficacy and safety of hypofractionated radiation therapy (HRT) in patients over 80 years old with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM). Between June 2009 and September 2015, patients in this population with a recommendation for radiation therapy from a multidisciplinary tumor board, and a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥60 as assessed by a radiation oncologist, who received HRT (40 Gy/15 fractions) ± concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 21 patients fulfilled the criteria for eligibility. Median KPS was 80 (60–90). After a median follow-up of 5.8 months (IQR 3.7–13.1 months), median overall survival (OS) was 7.5 months (95 % CI 4.5–19.1) and the 1-year and 2-year OS were 39.5 % (95 % CI 21.9–71.2 %) and 6.6 % (95 % CI 1.0− 43.3 %), respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.8 months (95 % CI 3.9–7.7 months), 1-year and 2-year PFS were 15.2 % (95 % CI 4.4–52.4) and 0 %, respectively. Overall, 16 (76.2 %) patients presented a recurrence. Overall seven patients (33.3 %) needed to be hospitalized during treatment. On univariate analysis, hospitalization was the only variable that correlated with less favourable outcome in terms of both OS (12.2 months versus 3.8 months, p < 0.010) and PFS (5.8 months versus 3.4 months, p = 0.002). Our study suggests that HRT is feasible with acceptable tolerance among “very elderly” patients affected by GBM. Patients 80 and older should be considered for management based on RT.