The records of 108 adult patients with supratentorial low grade astrocytoma presenting between 1/1/80 and 31/12/87 were examined for the following factors which might affect survival: patient age, extent of surgical resection, site of tumour, tumour grade, radiation field size and radiation dose. Univariate analysis showed that patient age, field size and radiation dose were significant prognostic factors, but with multivariate analysis only patient age and radiation field size were significant independent variables. It is possible that field size is a proxy variable for tumour size.