Record Status This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database. Citation Calzón Fernández S, Llanos Méndez A. Terapia de campo de tumores en el tratamiento del glioblastoma. Revisión sistemática. [Tumor treating fields therapy (TTF) for glioblastoma. A systematic review of the literature] Seville: Andalusian Agency for Health Technology Assessment (AETSA). AETSA 2012/17-4. 2013 Authors' objectives Tumor treating fields therapy (TTF) is based on a non-invasive device that uses electric fields that disrupt the rapid cell division exhibited by cancer cells. It has been approved for the treatment of glioblastoma.
Low survival rates, fatal prognosis and therapeutic management limitations of glioblastoma, justify the need to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of new treatments that can improve this horizon. Authors' conclusions A systematic review of the literature recovered two emerging technology briefings, a good quality clinical trial (RCT), a quasi-experimental study and a case-serie. The outcome of the studies were always compared to patients who received chemotherapy.
The outcomes of the RCT showed no statistical difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of overall survival (median 6.3 vs. 6.4 months), 1-year survival rate (21.9% vs. . 22.1%), progression-free survival (median 2.2 vs. 2.1 months), percentage of patients alive and progression-free at 6 months (21.4% vs. 15.1%) or in percentage radiological response (14% vs. 9.6%). The outcomes on quality of life were limited to a small number of patients.
The RCT reported that there were significantly more gastrointestinal and haematological adverse events in the chemotherapy group than in the TTF group. However TTF therapy was associated with a higher rate of rashes due to electrodes.
The case serie and the quasi-experimental study showed more favorable results in overall survival (median 62.2 weeks in recurrent cases and 39 months in newly diagnosed glioblastoma) and progression-free survival (median 26.1 weeks in recurrent and 155 weeks in newly diagnosed). These outcomes should be considered with caution due to the design of the studies.
Indexing Status Subject indexing assigned by CRD MeSH Brain Neoplasms; DNA-Binding Proteins; Glioblastomas; Immunohistochemistry; Staining and Labeling Language Published Spanish Country of organisation Spain English summary An English language summary is available. Address for correspondence Agencia de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias Sanitarias de Andalucia (AETSA) Av/ Luis Montoto No 89 CP 41007 Sevilla (Spain) Tel. +34 955 921 581 Fax + 34 955 923 572 Email: aetsa.csalud@juntadeandalucia.es AccessionNumber 32013000378 Date abstract record published 31/05/2013 |