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New Hypofractionation Radiation Strategies for Glioblastoma

  • Neuro-oncology (S Nagpal, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and lethal primary brain tumor in adults, with a median survival of less than 2 years despite the standard of care treatment of 6 weeks of chemoradiotherapy. We review the data investigating hypofractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) in the treatment of newly diagnosed GBM.

Recent Findings

Investigators have explored alternative radiotherapy strategies that shorten treatment duration with the goal of similar or improved survival while minimizing toxicity. HFRT over 1–3 weeks is already a standard of care for patients with advanced age or poor performance status. For young patients with good performance status, HFRT holds the promise of radiobiologically escalating the dose and potentially improving local control while maintaining quality of life.

Summary

Through the use of shorter radiotherapy fractionation regimens coupled with novel systemic agents, improved outcomes for patients with GBM may be achieved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, McGill University Health Centre, Glen site, 1001 Decarie, Montreal, Quebec, H4A 3J4, Canada

    Melissa Azoulay

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University Cancer Center, 875 Blake Wilbur Dr., Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Jennifer Shah, Erqi Pollom & Scott G. Soltys

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  1. Melissa Azoulay
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  2. Jennifer Shah
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  3. Erqi Pollom
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  4. Scott G. Soltys
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Correspondence to Melissa Azoulay.

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Conflict of Interest

Melissa Azoulay declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Jennifer Shah declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Erqi Pollom declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Scott G. Soltys has served on an advisory board for Nektar Therapeutics.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Neuro-oncology

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Azoulay, M., Shah, J., Pollom, E. et al. New Hypofractionation Radiation Strategies for Glioblastoma. Curr Oncol Rep 19, 58 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-017-0616-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-017-0616-3

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