Tests surgery to remove returning glioblastoma brain tumors
Compares surgery plus second-line therapy with second-line therapy alone in adults with recurrent glioblastoma.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern
- Where
- Larissa, GreeceSee the siteAlso in 8 other countries, 24 sites
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Surgery for Recurrent Glioblastoma
- Status
- Recruiting
- Phase
- Phase 2
- People taking part
- 120 people, planned
- Started
- 1 May 2015
- Expected to end
- Dec 2028
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Surgery followed by adjuvant second-line therapy
- Second-line therapy alone
- Record updated
- 2 February 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults whose glioblastoma has come back for the first time after earlier surgery and radiotherapy, and for whom removing the tumour again looks possible without major risk to speech or movement.
- Age
- 18 years or older
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- Glioblastoma that has come back for the first time (first progression by RANO criteria), not within 3 months after radiotherapy ended. No midline shift, no multifocal recurrence, no spread to the ventricles, the meninges or the other side of the brain on MRI. No contrast enhancement in the speech or main movement areas.
- Earlier treatment
- Earlier surgery that removed the glioblastoma, confirmed by tissue examination. Earlier standard radiotherapy, with or without temozolomide.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Complete removal of the tumour is not feasible without significant risk of permanent speech or movement problems
- The tumour touches the M1 or A1 segments of the middle or anterior cerebral artery on MRI
- Any reason that makes surgery unsafe
- Poor functional status (KPS below 70)
- First progression within 3 months after radiotherapy ended
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 13 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Written informed consent
- ≥18 years of age
- Prior resection of glioblastoma confirmed by histology
- Glioblastoma pretreated with standard radiotherapy without or with temozolomide
- First progression according to RANO criteria
- First progression not within 3 months after completion of radiation therapy
- Complete removal of contrast-enhancing lesion considered feasible without significant risk of permanent speech or motor function according to MRI as confirmed by study eligibility committee after screening and prior to recruitment
- No encroachment of the M1 or A1 segments of the medial and anterior cerebral artery on MRI
- No contrast enhancement in presumed speech and primary motor areas on MRI
- No midline shift on MRI
- No contrast enhancing ventricular spread, multifocal recurrence, meningeosis carcinomatosa or infiltration of the contra-lateral hemisphere on MRI
- No contra-indication for surgery
- Good functional status (KPS ≥ 70)
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- How old are you?
- Have you had radiotherapy to your head or brain?
Where in Greece
Also in 8 other countries, 24 sites
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital of Larissa & General Hospital of LarissaLarissa, GreeceContact: Kostas Fountas, MDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Patients with glioblastoma face a grim prognosis. Despite recent advancement in neurosurgical technology and neuro-oncology glioblastomas almost invariably progress or recur after a median of 4-8 months. The strategy to repeat tumor resection at recurrence in order to minimize tumor load and thus to facilitate subsequent second-line therapy has been shown to be feasible and safe.
Read full original descriptionShow less
However, evidence for a survival benefit of surgery for recurrent glioblastoma is scarce and relies entirely on retrospective analyses. While most retrospective analyses report an apparent survival benefit, an EORTC meta-analysis on second-line therapies found no survival difference in patients with or without surgery at recurrence. With regard to the risks and costs inherent to surgery for glioblastoma, a randomized controlled trial is required.
The purpose of the study is to compare the effect of craniotomy and tumor resection followed by adjuvant second-line therapy to no surgery followed by second-line therapy on overall survival, neurological status, and quality of life. Analysis of overall survival will be used to improve sample size estimation of a subsequent phase III trial for craniotomy and tumor resection of glioblastoma recurrence in cooperation with the EORTC.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Surgery followed by adjuvant second-line therapyTreatment being tested
- Second-line therapy aloneExisting treatment, for comparison
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- RESURGE - Randomized Controlled Comparative Phase II Trial on Surgery for Glioblastoma Recurrence
- Plain-language title
- Tests surgery to remove returning glioblastoma brain tumorsGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT02394626, who can take part
- Record updated
- 2 February 2026