Adjuvant Radiation Therapy and Temozolomide in Gliosarcoma: Is It Enough? Case Series of Seven Patients

OBJECTIVE: We present our experience of gliosarcoma (GSM) in oncology tertiary care center over the last 5 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We carried out a retrospective analysis of seven patients with GSM diagnosed between April 2008 and December 2012. Demographic data, clinicopathological data, treatment strategies employed, details of recurrence, and survival patterns were reviewed. RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 54 years, ranging between 34 and 63 years with a female predominance (57.1% females). Headache and neurological deficit were the most common symptoms with parietal region being the most common site of lesion. Subtotal resection followed by concurrent chemoradiation therapy was delivered to six patients. The results following completion of planned schedule of concurrent chemoradiotherapy were quite disappointing with two patients having no evidence of disease, one patient was lost to follow-up, and other three had progressive disease. One patient with progressive disease subsequently received eight cycles of bevacizumab on a clinical trial protocol. Fifteen-month posttreatment, she had stable disease on follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience suggests that despite treatment, the diagnosis of GSM portends a poor prognosis and the use of bevacizumab could represent a treatment approach to improve outcome in these patients. Although the role of targeted therapy in GSM remains unclear because of paucity of experience, the treatment decision should be according to patient's performance status, ability, and willingness to receive additional treatment.