Disease progression or pseudoprogression after concomitant radiochemotherapy treatment: Pitfalls in neurooncology

Abstract

Although radionecrosis has been exhaustively described in depth in the neurooncological literature, its diagnosis is still a challenging issue because its radiological pattern is frequently indistinguishable from that of tumor recurrence. This review discusses the causes of radionecrosis and the potential effect of adjuvant chemotherapy concomitant with radiotherapy on its rate and onset. The potential pitfalls in clinical studies attempting to make a differential diagnosis between radionecrosis and disease progression are also discussed. Copyright 2008 by the Society for Neuro-Oncology.