ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Glioma is the most common type of malignant brain tumor and the prognosis of glioma is still poor. Moreover, the prognosis of patients diagnosed with grade III gliomas varies significantly. In this study, we assessed the factors that contribute to the prognosis of patients with grade III gliomas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data from 97 patients with grade III glioma who received surgery from 2000 to 2005 were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to analyze the prognostic effects of 16 different factors selected from clinical characteristics, results from neuroimaging and pathological examinations, as well as different treatment schemes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The results indicated that age, preoperative Karnofsky Performance Scale score, extent of tumor invasion, tumor resection degree, residual tumor shown by postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy all correlated with patient prognosis. Furthermore, Cox multivariate analysis also showed the age (P < 0.01), extent of tumor invasion (P < 0.01), residual tumor shown by postoperative MRI (P < 0.05), and postoperative radiotherapy (P < 0.05) significantly correlated with patients' prognosis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Age, postoperative radiotherapy and residual tumor indicated by MRI after surgery correlated significantly with the prognosis of patients with grade III glioma. The extent of tumor invasion may be an independent prognostic factor for patients with grade III glioma.</p>