Präoperative Beurteilung des Kurzzeitüberlebens bei Glioblastom: Externe Validierung des SHORT-Scores

In the context of glioblastoma surgery, assessment of the individual preoperative risk-benefit profile is an essential component of neuro-oncological treatment planning. The SHORT score exploits preoperative variables to forecast short-term survival (STS) in patients with glioblastoma. The aim of this study was to externally validate the SHORT score in patients with surgically treated glioblastoma.

Data were collected from patients surgically treated for glioblastoma at a specialized neuro-oncology center. Individualized SHORT scores were calculated and area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) and precision-recall curves (PRC) plus 95% confidence interval (CI) were plotted to evaluate the ability of the SHORT score to indicate short-term survival in glioblastoma patients in an external cohort.

A cohort of 240 glioblastoma patients was analyzed, where STS < 6 months was noted in 33 patients (14%). Pre-existing arterial hypertension, advanced age, and decreased preoperative Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) were found to significantly correlate with shorter STS. The SHORT score effectively stratified patients into risk groups (HR, MR, LR), with AUROC for SHORT in this cohort being 0.774, indicating good discriminatory ability.

The validity of the SHORT score was acceptable and comparable to the values in the referenced study group. This score might be used to preoperatively identify glioblastoma patients at high risk for short-term survival.