Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor with a median survival of 15 months. Adding Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) to first-line therapy in GBM demonstrated improved survival in the EF-14 trial. This prospective study was designed to investigate the safety and effect on QoL of TTFields in Chinese patients with GBM.
METHODS
A total of 44 patients (29 newly diagnosed GBM, 15 recurrent GBM, median age 51.0 [24.0 - 81.0] years) who underwent TTFields following surgery, concurrent chemoradiotherapy were enrolled into the study. The primary endpoint was the incidence of TTFields-related skin adverse events; the secondary endpoint included quality of life (QoL), treatment adherence.
RESULTS
Of the 44 patients followed up for at least 3 months, 24 (54.5%) had skin adverse reactions, all of which were grade 1–2. Median time to skin AE was 1.2 months. The common skin AE were dermatitis (53.8%), ulcer (19.2%), infection (19.2%), and most of them could be resolved by symptomatic treatment (topical corticosteroid/antibiotics). In terms of QoL, noticeable improvement in overall health and clinical manifestations such as fatigue, nausea and vomiting were observed. The overall average treatment compliance was 91%: compliance (mean±SD), in newly diagnosed patients, 0.89±0.14, median 0.91; in recurrent patients, 0.86±0.13, median 0.93.
CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of skin adverse reactions (which could be effectively alleviated with treatment) in GBM patients treated with TTFields was acceptable. From our short follow up, TTFields appear to improve QoL and compliance in Chinese patients comparable to published data.