Health-Related Quality of Life in a Randomized Phase III Study of Bevacizumab, Temozolomide, and Radiotherapy in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma

Abstract

The addition of bevacizumab to standard-of-care treatment for newly diagnosed glioblastoma had no impact on HRQoL during the progression-free period.

Therapeutic Options for Recurrent High-Grade Gliomas: A Perspective Statement

“…BEV was found to prolong PFS in newly diagnosed GBM patients, but not to significantly improve QoL during this period. 19 Certain patient subpopulations with HGG recurrences may, nonetheless, benefit from BEV by stabilizing the patients' condition. Moreover, several phase II and III trials with novel targeted agents have been conducted over the last few years; however, these studies were mainly single-center trials with limited numbers of patients as well as ambiguous results, and a real breakthrough is still to be desired.…”

Health-Related Quality of Life or Quantity of Life: A Difficult Trade-Off in Primary Brain Tumors?

“…However, HRQoL outcomes differed. 66,67 The AVAglio study showed that the addition of bevacizumab neither worsened nor improved HRQoL (EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20; global health, physical functioning, social functioning, motor functioning, and communication deficit) over time. 66 Time to HRQoL deterioration was longer in the bevacizumab arm, which is in line with prolonged progression-free survival.…”

“…66,67 The AVAglio study showed that the addition of bevacizumab neither worsened nor improved HRQoL (EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20; global health, physical functioning, social functioning, motor functioning, and communication deficit) over time. 66 Time to HRQoL deterioration was longer in the bevacizumab arm, which is in line with prolonged progression-free survival. It can be concluded from this study that the addition of bevacizumab resulted in an increased progressionfree survival in combination with a delay in HRQoL deterioration, which may be a meaningful outcome for patients.…”

What is the optimal use of bevacizumab in glioblastoma?

“…The AVAglio group recently reported its health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data in full, but were unable to conclude whether bevacizumab has a net clinical benefit in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. 1 Their observations suggested that a deterioration in HRQoL is mainly driven by disease progression rather than treatment. Furthermore, an economic assessment published alongside the AVAglio report concludes that use of bevacizumab at this stage of the disease is probably not cost-effective.…”