According to a new study recently released for patients recovering from the surgical removal of a badly malignant brain tumor initial chemotherapy alone can be just as effective as initial radiation treatment.

The study was conducted by the Neurooncology Working Group of the German Cancer Society, and led by researchers from both Heidelberg and Zürich. The patients studied in this survey survived on average 30 months or longer without a reoccurrence of a tumor, using only chemotherapy as their prescribed course of treatment, figures that were on par with the life expectancy of those who received initial radiation treatment.

In Germany alone, about 4,500 people are diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor every year. Of those cases about 5% of the tumors are classified as badly malignant or anaplastic gliomas as they are medically termed.The average mean survival rate for such patients is around 80 months, in part because such brain tumors do respond better to treatment than some others.  In most cases the tumors branch out into surrounding areas, making complete removal almost impossible.

The treatment currently used most commonly for these patients after surgery is a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. Unfortunately this treatment is associated with long term toxicity to the tissues, causing a loss of cognivity for patients, an unwelcome development.

From the study came another important finding regarding the genetic factors associated with these anaplastic gliomas. With the aid of molecular pathology studies the researchers were able to identify a new prognosis factor, called IDH1, which is a gene mutation of isocitrate dehydrogenase. They found that its presence is indidicative  of a better prognosis , regardless of what treatment modality is used.

According to  Professor Dr. Wolfgang Wick, Medical Director of the Department of Neurooncology at Heidelberg University Hospital and Head of the Neurooncology Unit at the DKFZ  two other recent studies had indicated that the current radiochemotherapy treatment did not produce better results than radiotherapy alone and now his study has proven that the same holds true for the use of chemotherapy alone.

It is the study’s authors’ hope that their work will now allow doctors to reevaluate the treatments they prescribe for post surgical brain tumor patients and that new strategies can be developed that will reduce the cogitative side effects.