Background: Reduced temporal muscle thickness (TMT) has been discussed as a prognostic marker in IDH-wildtype glioblastoma. This retrospective multicenter study was designed to investigate whether TMT is an independent prognostic marker in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
Methods: TMT was retrospectively measured in 335 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2019 at the University Hospitals of Leipzig and Rostock. The cohort was dichotomized by TMT and tested for association with overall survival (OS) after 12 months by multivariate proportional hazard calculation.
Results: TMT of 7.0 mm or more was associated with increased OS (46.3 ± 3.9% versus 36.6 ± 3.9%, p > 0.001). However, the sub-groups showed significant epidemiological differences. In multivariate proportional hazard calculation, patient age (HR 1.01; p = 0.004), MGMT promoter status (HR 0.76; p = 0.002), EOR (HR 0.61), adjuvant irradiation (HR 0.24) and adjuvant chemotherapy (HR 0.40; all p < 0.001) were independent prognostic markers for OS. However, KPS (HR 1.00, p = 0.31), BMI (HR 0.98, p = 0.11) and TMT (HR 1.06; p = 0.07) were not significantly associated with OS.
Conclusion: TMT has not appeared as a statistically independent prognostic marker in this cohort of patients with newly diagnosed IDH-wildtype glioblastoma.
Keywords: glioblastoma; prognostic marker; survival; temporal muscle thickness.