Primary Spinal Cord Glioblastoma Multiforme: A Retrospective Study of Patients at a Single Institution

Background and Objective Primary spinal cord (PSC) glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is extremely rare and accounts for only 1.5% of all spinal cord tumors. Therefore, its treatment is still ill defined. To elucidate prognostic factors, we performed a single-institutional retrospective review of the largest series to date of patients with PSC GBM who underwent surgical resection in West China Hospital between 2008 and 2014. A total of 14 patients with PSC GBM were reviewed. Methods Demographic, operative, and postoperative factors were recorded. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were calculated and compared with the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Eight males (57%) and 6 females (43%) were involved in the study. Their median age was 28 years (range, 14–56 years). Median Karnofsky Performance Status score was 60 (range, 20–90). Four patients (28.6%) received gross total resection, 5 (35.7%) partial resection, and the remaining 5 (35.7%) biopsy only. Nine patients (64.3%) received postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy, 3 (21.4%) chemotherapy only, and 2 (14.3%) neither. Median follow-up period was 15 months (range, 5–26 months). One-year and 2-year survival was 78.5% (11/14) and 7.1% (1/14), respectively. Median OS was 15 months, and median PFS 8 months. Univariate log-rank analysis showed that OS and PFS were significantly associated with patients' age ( P  = 0.007 and P  = 0.04, respectively) and postoperative radiotherapy ( P  = 0.001 and P  = 0.002, respectively). However, preoperative Karnofsky Performance Status score affected only OS and did not affect PFS ( P  = 0.033 and P  = 0.106, respectively). Conclusions According to our study, the combination of postoperative radiotherapy and temozolomide chemotherapy can improve prognosis and may serve as a feasible postoperative adjuvant treatment of PSC GBM.