Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2015 Mar;17(3):440-7.
doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nou162. Epub 2014 Aug 13.

Clinical course and progression-free survival of adult intracranial and spinal ependymoma patients

Elizabeth Vera-Bolanos  1 , Kenneth Aldape  1 , Ying Yuan  1 , Jimin Wu  1 , Khalida Wani  1 , Mary Jo Necesito-Reyes  1 , Howard Colman  1 , Girish Dhall  1 , Frank S Lieberman  1 , Philippe Metellus  1 , Tom Mikkelsen  1 , Antonio Omuro  1 , Sonia Partap  1 , Michael Prados  1 , H Ian Robins  1 , Riccardo Soffietti  1 , Jing Wu  1 , Mark R Gilbert  1 , Terri S Armstrong  1 ; CERN Foundation
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Clinical course and progression-free survival of adult intracranial and spinal ependymoma patients

Elizabeth Vera-Bolanos et al. Neuro Oncol. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Ependymomas are rare CNS tumors. Previous studies describing the clinical course of ependymoma patients were restricted to small sample sizes, often with patients at a specific institution.

Methods: Clinically annotated ependymoma tissue samples from 19 institutions were centrally reviewed. Patients were all adults aged 18 years or older at the time of diagnosis. Potential prognostic clinical factors identified on univariate analysis were included in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model with backwards selection to model progression-free survival.

Results: The 282 adult ependymoma patients were equally male and female with a mean age of 43 years (range, 18-80y) at diagnosis. The majority were grade II (78%) with the tumor grade for 20 cases being reclassified on central review (half to higher grade). Tumor locations were spine (46%), infratentorial (35%), and supratentorial (19%). Tumor recurrence occurred in 26% (n = 74) of patients with a median time to progression of 14 years. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model identified supratentorial location (P < .01), grade III (anaplastic; P < .01), and subtotal resection, followed or not by radiation (P < .01), as significantly increasing risk of early progression.

Conclusions: We report findings from an ongoing, multicenter collaboration from a collection of clinically annotated adult ependymoma tumor samples demonstrating distinct predictors of progression-free survival. This unique resource provides the opportunity to better define the clinical course of ependymoma for clinical and translational studies.

Keywords: adult; ependymoma; progression-free survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Progression-free survival distributions by tumor characteristics. Caption: Progression-free survival distributions according to tumor location (A) and tumor grade (B).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Progression-free survival distributions by age at diagnosis (A) and initial treatment (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gilbert MR, Ruda R, Soffietti R. Ependymomas in adults. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2010;10(3):240–247. - PubMed
    1. Iqbal MS, Lewis J. An overview of the management of adult ependymomas with emphasis on relapsed disease. Clin Oncol (R Cll Radiol) 2013;25(12):726–733. - PubMed
    1. Louis DN, Ohgaki H, Wiestler OD, et al. The 2007 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system. Acta Neuropathol. 2007;114:97–109. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Godfraind C. Classification and controversies in pathology of ependymomas. Childs Nerv Syst. 2009;25(10):1185–1193. - PubMed
    1. Hwang HJ, Sohn JH, Han SJ, et al. Multi-disciplinary treatment of a rare pelvic cavity ependymoma. Yonsei Med J. 2007;48(4):719–722. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms