Abstract
Bevacizumab is a vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor currently approved for treatment of recurrent glioblastomas (GBM). GBM patients treated with bevacizumab, versus standard of care alone, were assessed for rates of SGS development. Baseline patient and histopathological characteristics, treatment, and clinical outcomes were aggregated. Inclusion criteria were: 1) primary diagnosis of GBM with histopathology and 2) repeat surgery performed with histopathology. A total of 126 patients were included. Mean age at primary resection was 49 years old (range: 21-79). A greater number of patients receiving bevacizumab developed SGS (11.4%) versus patients not treated with bevacizumab (3.5%) (p < 0.001). Average time on bevacizumab in those who developed SGS was 2.9 months compared to 5.1 months for those who did not develop SGS. Within the bevacizumab group, there was no difference in rate of tumor progression between those who developed SGS and those who did not. Overall survival (OS) was 15.7 and 11.3 months for patients treated with and without bevacizumab, respectively. Our results suggest that GBM patients treated with bevacizumab have an increased risk of developing SGS.