WEDNESDAY, Dec. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Glioblastoma patients who wait four to six weeks after surgery before starting radiation treatment have better survival than patients who start sooner, according to a study published online Dec. 29 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Deborah T. Blumenthal, M.D., from Tel Aviv Medical Center in Israel, and colleagues reviewed outcomes among 2,855 glioblastoma patients based on the time interval between surgery and the start of radiotherapy, which ranged from less than two weeks to four to six weeks.

The researchers found that median survival significantly improved in patients who delayed radiotherapy for four to six weeks compared with those who initiated radiotherapy within two weeks (12.5 versus 9.2 months, respectively). Improved overall survival was predicted by a time interval of four to six weeks, and lower recursive partitioning analysis class but not treatment regimen, the report indicates.

"Although we are disinclined to recommend deliberately forestalling radiotherapy among patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme, physicians may be able to reassure those patients who are waiting for treatment to commence that cancer control is unlikely to be compromised," the authors conclude.

Blumenthal disclosed ties with the pharmaceutical industry.

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