Outcome of patients with a rare type of astrocytoma is worse than expected: Study

The Nagoya University research team, led by Yuji Kibe and Kazuya Motomura of the Department of Neurosurgery, analyzed localized IDHwt astrocytomas and found that all resulted in malignant recurrence and a poor clinical prognosis similar to that of glioblastomas. Glioblastomas are among the most malignant tumors, with an average survival time of 8 months and less than 7% of patients survive for five years.

Motomura believes that the findings of the group are important for doctors and patients. “All tumors that we investigated had a dismal prognosis despite multidisciplinary treatment,” he said. “For patients with gliomas, our research results should lead patients to receive the proper clinical diagnosis and treatment. For physicians, IDHwt astrocytomas must be followed with great caution, even after total removal. Strong postoperative therapy should be considered. As almost all patients with diffuse astrocytomas present with radiographic imaging findings suggesting a localized tumor mass, physicians may misdiagnose the patient with a low-grade tumor instead of a malignant tumor; therefore, our findings suggest physicians should consider the possibility of such tumors.”

Reference:

Imaging features of localized IDH wild-type histologically diffuse astrocytomas: a single-institution case series,Scientific Reports,doi 10.1038/s41598-022-25928-2