MONDAY, April 3, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Adding tumor-treating fields (TTFields) to temozolomide (TMZ) is associated with improved progression-free and overall survival in glioblastoma (GBM), according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, held from April 1 to 5 in Washington, D.C.
Roger Stupp, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues enrolled 695 patients with newly diagnosed GBM who were followed for a median of more than three years. Patients were randomized in a 1:2 ratio to either standard adjuvant TMZ alone or TMZ and TTFields within seven weeks after the end of concomitant chemoradiotherapy.
The researchers found that the median progression-free survival was 6.7 and 4.0 months for patients treated with TTFields/TMZ and TMZ alone, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.63; P = 0.00005). The median overall survival from randomization was 20.9 months for TTFields/TMZ versus 16 months for TMZ alone (hazard ratio, 0.63; P = 0.00006). The two-year survival rates were 43 and 31 percent, respectively (P = 0.0008), and five-year survival rates were 13 and 5 percent, respectively (P = 0.0037). Compliance with TTFields treatment was predictive of outcome, with treatment for more than 18 hours/day associated with significantly longer survival versus less than 18 hours/day.
"These data show the power of this new treatment modality, and we look forward to learning the results of trials testing it in patients with other forms of cancer," Stupp said in a statement.
One author disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including NovoCure, which funded the study.
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