Electromagnetic Therapy Improves Survival in Patients with Aggressive Type of Brain Cancer

Glioblastoma is the most devastating form of brain cancer in adults; most patients die within one to two years of diagnosis. A new study examined whether using tumor-treating fields, a type of electromagnetic therapy, combined with maintenance chemotherapy in patients with glioblastoma who had already completed standard chemotherapy and radiation, could increase survival.

Researchers from University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland are conducting a worldwide trial with 695 glioblastoma patients. One out of three received a standard maintenance course of chemotherapy, while the other two received maintenance therapy plus the tumor treating fields for up to two years.

The current results are for the first 315 patients. Researchers found that use of the tumor-treating fields increased both progression-free survival and overall survival. Overall survival is prolonged by an average of three months in patients getting the tumor-treating fields therapy.