OLIGODENDROGLIOMA - THE ROTTERDAM-DIJKZIGT EXPERIENCE

IN A RETROSPECTIVE study of 82 cases of oligodendroglioma, the influen ces of tumor size, site, and grade, the age of the patient, the extent of surgical excision, and the effect of additional radiation therapy on the clinical course, as well as their dependencies, were investigat ed. Tumor grade and tumor site significantly affected the survival rat es of the patients. When tumor site was kept constant by distinguishin g between frontal and nonfrontal localized oligodendrogliomas, the gra ding system still showed discriminating power. Conversely, when contro lled for grade, the frontal site appeared to be favorable for prognosi s. Age was only faintly correlated with survival, with younger patient s tending to survive longer. This was compatible with the finding that , in younger patients, more frontal localized tumors were found and th at older patients had oligodendrogliomas with higher grades. Tumor vol umes did not correlate with survival. No correlation between tumor vol ume and tumor grade was found. Patients who had undergone a decompress ion tended toward longer survival, although this trend did not reach s ignificance. No beneficial effect of radiation therapy on the survival rate was demonstrable.