Bevacizumab Failure in Recurrent Glioblastoma

Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor that recently received FDA approval for use in recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). Although bevacizumab prolongs progression-free survival compared with other available therapies, disease recurrence during the first year of treatment is typical. Once bevacizumab fails, no treatment is known to be effective, and most patients rapidly succumb to the disease. To characterize progression patterns and prognosis in 37 patients with recurrent GBM whose tumors progressed during bevacizumab therapy, the authors reviewed the patients' medical records and MRI scans.

At the time of bevacizumab discontinuation (because of disease progression), MRI scans showed increased e…