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Influence of pregnancy on glioma patients

  • Original Article - Brain Tumors
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Abstract

Background

Data about the influence of pregnancy on progression-free survival and overall survival of glioma patients are sparse and controversial. We aimed at providing further evidence on this relation.

Methods

The course of 18 glioma patients giving birth to 23 children after tumor surgery was reviewed and compared to the course of 18 nulliparous female patients matched for tumor diagnosis including molecular markers, extent of resection, and tumor location.

Results

Tumor pathology was astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and ependymoma in 9, 6, and 3 patients, respectively. Time interval between tumor resection and delivery was 5.3 ± 4.4 years. All newborns were healthy after uneventful deliveries. Tumor progression was diagnosed before pregnancy in 4 patients and during pregnancy in 1 patient, and 4 patients displayed progressive disease 31.0 ± 11 months after delivery. Three of these latter patients underwent second surgery, whereas resection of recurrent tumor had been performed in 2 women before pregnancy. Among nulliparous patients, 9 women suffered from tumor progression, resulting in re-operation in 7 patients and/or further adjuvant treatment in 6 cases. Progression-free survival did not differ between patients with and patients without children (p = 0.4). Moreover, in both groups, median overall survival was not reached after a mean follow-up period of 9.7 ± 5.7 years in glioma patients who gave birth to a child and 8.9 ± 4.2 years in nulliparous glioma patients.

Conclusion

Pregnancy does not seem to influence the clinical course of glioma patients. Likewise, glioma seems not to have an impact on delivered children’s health.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Dr. Eva Herrmann for her help with statistics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Goethe University Hospital, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Marie-Therese Forster, Peter Baumgarten, Florian Gessler, Christian Senft, Volker Seifert & Kea Franz

  2. University Cancer Center Frankfurt (UCT), Goethe University Hospital, Theodor Stern Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany

    Marie-Therese Forster, Gabriele Maurer, Christian Senft, Volker Seifert, Patrick N. Harter & Kea Franz

  3. Dr. Senckenberg Institute of Neurooncology, Goethe University Hospital, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Gabriele Maurer

  4. Department of Neuroradiology, Goethe University Hospital, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Elke Hattingen

  5. Institute of Neurology (Edinger-Institute), Goethe University Hospital, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße 7, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Patrick N. Harter

  6. German Cancer Research Center DKFZ Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Patrick N. Harter

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  1. Marie-Therese Forster
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Correspondence to Marie-Therese Forster.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (ethics committee of the University Hospital Frankfurt) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Forster, MT., Baumgarten, P., Gessler, F. et al. Influence of pregnancy on glioma patients. Acta Neurochir 161, 535–543 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-019-03823-6

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