Impact of extent of resection of newly diagnosed glioblastomas on survival: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background Because of the continuing practice variation regarding the extent of glioblastoma (GBM) resection, we sought to systematically examine the recent literature to evaluate the impact of the extent of resection of primary GBM on patients’ survival. Main body of the abstract We examined all the published studies from January 2009 to January 2020 concerning primary glioblastoma resection and survival. The data synthesis was performed using the random-effects model in Review Manager (version 5.3; Cochrane Collaboration). Eight studies met our selection criteria. The included studies involved a total of 2249 patients. A total of 1247 patients underwent gross total resection (GTR) of the GBM, and 1002 experienced an incomplete resection. The mean progression-free survival for GTR versus incomplete resection was 10 versus 6.3 months, and the mean overall survival (GTR vs. incomplete resection) was 28.7 versus 13.5 months. Using the random-effects model, the outcome results revealed that GTR was insignificantly different than incomplete resection on survival among the included cases (P value: 0.47). The quality of evidence of the available studies was of low certainty. Conclusion The outcome results revealed that gross total resection was insignificantly different than incomplete resection on survival among the included cases (P value: 0.47). However, the quality of evidence of the available studies was of low certainty. Additionally, no data on patients’ quality of life were reported across the included studies. Thus, prospective randomized controlled trials are required to investigate both the safety and the survival benefit of GTR of glioblastoma.