Quality of life after radiation therapy of cerebral low-grade gliomas of the adult: Results of a randomised phase III trial on dose response (EORTC trial 22844)

In 1985, the EORTC Radiotherapy Go-operative Group launched a randomised ph ase III study comparing high-dose (59.4 Gy in 6.5 weeks) versus law-dose (4 5 Gy in 5 weeks) radiotherapy with conventional techniques in patients diag nosed with low-grade cerebral glioma. The primary endpoint of the study was survival. No difference in survival was observed between the two treatment strategies, A quality of Life (QoL) questionnaire consisting of 47 items a ssessing a range of physical, psychological, social, and symptom domains wa s included in the trial to measure the impact of treatment over time. Patie nts who received high-dose radiotherapy tended to report lower levels of fu nctioning and more symptom burden following completion of radiotherapy. The se group differences were statistically significant for fatigue/malaise and insomnia immediately after radiotherapy and in leisure time and emotional functioning at 7-15 months after randomisation. These findings suggest that : for conventional radiotherapy for low-grade cerebral glioma, a schedule o f 45 Gy in 5 weeks not only saves valuable resources, but also spares patie nts a prolonged treatment at no loss of clinical efficacy. (C) 1998 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.