ABSTRACT
Objective To determine the efficacy of temozolomide (TMZ) in treating patients with glioblastoma using carmustine (BCNU) as control, and examine the effect of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) expression on the prognosis of patients with glioblastoma. Methods Two hundred and eighty-three patients with pathologically confirmed glioblastoma,admitted to and received treatment without chemotherapeutics in our hospital from January 2004 to January 2009, were enrolled in our study; TMZ was used in 97 patients and BCNU in 186 patients.The glioma tissues were examined for MGMT protein expression by immunohistochemistry.All patients in these 2 groups were performed long-term follow-up for survival time of the patients, tumor response and drug safety. Results In patients of the TMZ treatment group,the median survival time was (19.2±0.6) months,the 2-year survival rate 31％ (30/97),the 5-year survival rate 6.2％ (6/97) and the objective response rate 75.26％ (73/97); while in patients of the BCNU treatment group,the median survival time of was (15.6±0.6) months,the 2-year survival rate 14％ (26/186),the 5-year survival rate 0.5％ (1/186),and objective response rate 45.16％ (84/186); the cumulative survival rate of patients received TMZ treatment was significantly higher than that of patients received BCNU treatment (P＜0.05);the objective response rate between the 2 groups was obviously different (x2=24.753, P=0.000); the incidence of hypoleukocytosis in patients received TMZ treatment was significantly lower than that in patients received BCNU treatment (x2=15.681,P=0.000). Conclusion TMZ shows more efficient oobjective response as compared with BCNU, with less adverse reaction and better tolerability.Therefore,it is an ideal drug of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for malignant glioma.