Primary and metastatic glioblastoma of the spine in the pediatric population: a systematic review

Runze Yang, Albert M. Isaacs, Magalie Cadieux, Tomas J. Hirmer, Travis S. CreveCoeur, Andrew P. Lapointe, Michael Opoku-Darko, Zahra Premji, Jay Riva-Cambrin, Clare N. Gallagher

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pediatric glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) involving the spine is an aggressive tumor with a poor quality of life for patients. Despite this, there is only a limited number of reports describing the outcomes of pediatric spinal GBMs, both as primary spinal GBMs and metastases from an intracranial tumor. Here, we performed an individual patient meta-analysis to characterize factors affecting prognosis of pediatric spinal GBM. MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane databases were searched for published studies on GBMs involving the spine in pediatric patients (age ≤ 21 years old). Factors associated with the survival were assessed with multi-factor ANOVAs, Cox hazard regression, and Kaplan-Meier analyses. We extracted data on 61 patients with spinal GBM from 40 studies that met inclusion criteria. Median survival was significantly longer in the primary spinal GBM compared that those with metastatic GBM (11 vs 3 months, p < 0.001). However, median survival of metastatic GBM patients was 10 months following diagnosis of their primary brain tumor, which was not different from that of primary spinal GBM patients (p = 0.457). Among primary spinal GBM patients, chemotherapy (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.255 [0.106–0.615], p = 0.013) and extent of resection (HR = 0.582 [0.374–0.905], p = 0.016) conferred a significant survival benefit. Younger age (less than 14 years) was associated with longer survival in patients treated with chemotherapy than those who did not undergo chemotherapy (β = − 1.12, 95% CI [− 2.20, − 0.03], p < 0.05). In conclusion, survival after presentation of metastases from intracranial GBM is poor in the pediatric population. In patients with metastatic GBM, chemotherapy may have provided the most benefit in young patients, and its efficacy might have an association with extent of surgical resection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1849-1858
Number of pages10
JournalChild's Nervous System
Volume37
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Keywords

  • Glioblastoma multiforme
  • Grade IV glioma
  • Spinal metastasis

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