Primary brain tumors

In our retrospective analysis of 305 patients with primary brain tumors, treated and followed at Rambam Medical Center between 1983-1990, 56% were males; mean age was 43; 47% were Ashkenazi Jews, 22% Sephardi Jews, 22% Arabs and 9% were Jews of unspecified origin. 3-year actuarial survival for all patients was 33.5%, Arabs 51%, Sephardi Jews 40%, Ashkenazi Jews 20%; for those younger than 20, it was 57%, and older than 20, 26%. Diagnoses were: astrocytoma grades I-II, 68%; astrocytoma grade III, 24%; glioblastoma multiforme, 5.5%; medulloblastoma 73%; ependymoma, 75%; oligodendroglioma, 85%; meningioma, 100%; pituitary adenoma, 100%. Survival probability of those with glioblastoma multiforme treated by combined surgery and radiotherapy was superior to that of those treated by surgery alone. In low-grade astrocytoma there was no difference in survival probability between those with combined therapy and those treated by surgery alone. Survival when the diagnosis was based on imaging studies alone without histological confirmation of malignancy, was similar to that of those with glioblastoma: only 3.0% at 3 years. Prognostic factors identified by univariate analysis were histology, age of patient and ethnic origin, and type of treatment.