PURPOSE

The appropriate management of low-grade gliomas is still a matter of debate. So far, there are no randomized studies that analyze the impact of surgical resection on patient outcome. The value of the data obtained from the few retrospective reports available is often limited.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In the present study, we performed an analysis on data of 130 adult low-grade glioma patients. Extent of the resection was evaluated in correlation to the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using Cox regression multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

Extended surgery was shown to prolong OS and PFS significantly. Re-surgery in the case of a tumor relapse has a significant impact on OS and PFS, too.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, we could retrospectively evaluate a large case series of well-defined low-grade gliomas patients with a long follow-up period showing that extended surgery would be the most effective therapy for low-grade glioma patients even in recurrent diseases.