Preoperative anaplastic glioma tumor volume effects on patient survival

Background and Objectives: The relationship between preoperative tumor volu me and patient survival has long been studied, but the results have been in consistent. Since geometric measurement of tumor Volume was used in these s tudies, the aim of this study was to ascertain whether the inconsistency of the study results is due to less accurate geometric measurement. Methods: Prognostic tumor volume effects were compared between the planimet ry method and the geometric method using survival analysis, performed for 9 9 patients diagnosed with anaplastic glioma tumor. Results: A significant correlation was found between planimetry tumor volum e and patient survival, but there was no correlation between geometric tumo r volume and patient survival. The larger planimetry tumor volume was signi ficantly associated with shorter survival. Conclusions: The study indicated that in brain tumor research the preoperat ive tumor volume measured by the geometric method may not be prognostically important. The more accurate measurement, i.e., the planimetry method (bas ed on either computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging), is needed in brain tumor clinical research and prognostic diagnosis. (C) 1999 Wiley-L iss, Inc.