Survival of Brain Astrocytoma Patients Considering Preoperative Tumor Size

Actual neuroradiological diagnostics of the brain tumors, including astrocytomas, is of great influence on successful planning and realization of the tumor resection, considering the fact that it is oftentimes preoperative. CT diagnostics is the most frequently used method of the brain tumor visualization in Serbia, due to height reliability, short time of the exposition, lower costs, and wide using even in smaller health centers, compared to concurrent methods. In our study we examined 63 adult patients, which have been operated for a brain tumor at the Clinic of Neurosurgery in Nis. In all of the cases tumors were supratentorial, without cysts and complete resection was confirmed after control CT scan has been done. In all of the patents, pathohistological analysis of the tumor specimen revealed astrocytoma. The features of astrocytoma grade IV are: hypercellularity, pleomorphism, endovascular proliferation and necrosis were dominant. All patients had maximal reduction of the tumor bulk and were postoperatively treated according to current oncological protocols. The preoperative CT parametertumor size was correlated to survival. The most frequent tumor bulk was presented as medium sized, average diameter between 25 and 50 mm (34 patients). Large tumor bulks, with average diameter over 50mm were found in 17 patients, and rarely, the tumors were small, with average diameter less then 25 mm, which was found in 12 patients. Patients that had large tumor masses lived significantly shorter (24 weeks) compared to patients that had medium sized or small tumors (97 and 84 weeks, respectively). Acta Medica Medianae 2007;46(1):17-20.