ArticleBrain & spine2026
The role of dexamethasone during treatment phases in glioblastoma: Insights from a retrospective observational study.
Article in Brain & spine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Review of glioblastoma and systemic comorbidities.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. Dexamethasone (DEX) is commonly used to manage peritumoral edema, but its impact on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) remains unclear across treatment phases. Methods: In this retrospective single-center study, we analyzed data from 106 GBM patients treated between 2016 and 2020 at the University Hospital Halle. We examined the effects of DEX on OS and PFS during the preoperative, postoperative, and adjuvant therapy phases using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Cutoff analyses identified phase-specific DEX dose thresholds. Results: Preoperatively, DEX had no significant effect on OS (HR: 0.998, p = 0.379) or PFS (HR: 0.998, p = 0.373), though a positive trend is possible. Postoperatively, DEX was associated with improved OS (HR: 0.995, p = 0.017) and PFS (HR: 0.995, p = 0.029). Conversely, during adjuvant therapy, higher DEX doses trended toward worse OS (HR: 1.001, p = 0.069) and PFS (p = 0.258). Patients not receiving DEX during adjuvant therapy had significantly longer OS (17.9 vs. 6.4 months, p < 0.001) and PFS (9 vs. 4.6 months, p = 0.007). Conclusion: DEX influences survival outcomes differently across treatment phases. Higher doses may be beneficial pre- and postoperatively but detrimental during adjuvant therapy. These findings underscore the importance of phase-specific DEX dosing and support further research into optimal corticosteroid strategies in GBM care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.