Brain tumor
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive (grade IV) and most common form of a malignant brain tumor. Even when aggressive multimodality therapy consisting of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical excision is used, median survival is only 12–17 months. Standard therapy for glioblastoma multiforme consists of maximal surgical resection of the tumor, followed by radiotherapy between two and four weeks after the surgical procedure to remove the cancer, then by chemotherapy, such as temozolomide. Most patients with glioblastoma take a corticosteroid, typically dexamethasone, during their illness to relieve symptoms. Experimental treatments include targeted therapy, gamma knife radiosurgery, boron neutron capture therapy and gene therapy.
Myelodysplastic syndrome
The best prognosis is seen with RA and RARS, where some nontransplant patients live more than a decade (the average is on the order of three to five years, although long-term remission is possible if a bone marrow transplant is successful). The worst outlook is with RAEB-T, where the mean life expectancy is less than 1 year. About one-quarter of patients develop overt leukemia. The others die of complications of low blood count or unrelated disease. The International Prognostic Scoring System is another tool for determining the prognosis of MDS, published in "Blood" in 1997. This system takes into account the percentage of blasts in the marrow, cytogenetics, and number of cytopenias.