Improved treatment of glioblastoma – changes in survival over two decades at a single regional Centre

<b>Background:</b> Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor with a short overall survival (OS) in general. The treatment of GBM has evolved over the last decades and is today multimodal including surgical resection followed by radiochemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients in good performance status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the development of treatment and the outcome for GBM patients at a single regional center. <b>Patients and methods:</b> Survival was studied for 571 patients in our region diagnosed with GBM between 1995 and 2015. Samples from 244 patients out of those treated 2005–2015 have been included in a tissue/blood bank and a clinical database has been set up with basic patient characteristics and details on surgery and non-surgical treatment. <b>Results:</b> The median OS for all patients from 1995 to 2015 was 9.3 months. There was a stepwise improvement from 6.9 to 10.3 months for patients diagnosed 1995–1996 and 2010–2015, respectively (<i>p</i> p p <b>Discussion:</b> The results of this study are consistent with earlier results regarding survival and prognostic factors and confirm results from randomized controlled trials in a clinical setting. Despite the improvements made, the prognosis is still dismal and the need for further research on GBM treatment is great.