Abstract
AIMS
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive type of primary brain tumours, but there is a small percentage of patients who have a long-term survival and some exceptional cases who survive decades after surgical removal of tumour along with adjuvant therapy.
METHOD
In 2011, a 40-year-old man, presented with headaches & confusion and underwent gliolan guided resection of a right frontal glioblastoma WHO grade IV. He received 30# of 60Gy Radiotherapy with TMZ. Chemotherapy was continued with interval scans in 2016 and 2018 showing stable disease. MRI scan in October 2022 showed contrast enhancing foci for which redo surgery was eventually performed 5 months later. The repeat histology is pending. 12 years after the primary diagnosis, the patient is clinically well.
RESULTS
Only a very handful cases of glioblastoma show prolonged survival of over 10 years. The long-survival for glioblastoma multiforme can be linked to age, surgical resection, molecular profile and good performance score before surgery.
CONCLUSIONS
These extremely rare scenarios of prolonged survival in glioblastoma serves as a motivation to continue incessant research in this field with the hope of improving life expectancy in grade 4 tumours.