[Combined surgery and radiotherapy of glioblastoma multiforme--report of 73 cases].

A retrospective analysis of 73 patients with glioblastoma multiforme treated with surgery plus radiotherapy (63 cases) or surgery alone (10 cases) showed that the 5-year survival was 16% versus 0% and the median survival time was 14 versus 5 months. The median survival time in patients receiving postoperative radiotherapy was almost 3 times as long as that in patients treated with surgery alone. The difference in survival was insignificant between patients treated with a local extended field and those with whole brain plus local irradiation. The age, sex, course of disease, extent of operation and dose of irradiation are the factors influencing prognosis.