Efficacy of Whole-Ventricular Radiotherapy in Patients Undergoing Maximal Tumor Resection for Glioblastomas Involving the Ventricle

Abstract

Background and purpose: Patients with glioblastoma (GBM) involving the ventricles are at high risk of ventricle opening during surgery and potential ventricular tumor spread. We evaluated the effectiveness of whole-ventricular radiotherapy (WVRT) in reducing intraventricular seeding in patients with GBM and identified patients who could benefit from this approach.

Methods and materials: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 382 patients with GBM who underwent surgical resection and temozolomide-based chemoradiotherapy. Propensity score matching was performed to compensate for imbalances in characteristics between patients who did [WVRT (+); n=59] and did not [WVRT (-); n=323] receive WVRT. Local, outfield, intraventricular, and leptomeningeal failure rates were compared.

Results: All patients in the WVRT (+) group had tumor ventricular involvement and ventricle opening during surgery. In the matched cohort, the WVRT (+) group exhibited a significantly lower 2-year intraventricular failure rate than the WVRT (-) group (2.1% vs. 11.8%; P=0.045), with no difference in other outcomes. Recursive partitioning analysis stratified the patients in the WVRT (-) group at higher intraventricular failure risk (2-year survival, 14.2%) due to tumor ventricular involvement, MGMT unmethylation, and ventricle opening. WVRT reduced the intraventricular failure rate only in high-risk patients (0% vs. 14.2%; P=0.054) or those with MGMT-unmethylated GBM in the matched cohort (0% vs. 17.3%; P=0.036).

Conclusions: WVRT reduced the intraventricular failure rate in patients with tumor ventricular involvement and ventricle opening during surgery. The MGMT-methylation status may further stratify patients who could benefit from WVRT. Further prospective evaluation of WVRT in GBM is warranted.