title: New perspectives in brachycurietherapy of malignant brain tumors. Preliminary report.
abstract: Between 1980 and 1988, 16 patients (9 females, 7 males) with malignant neuroepithelial tumors of the brain were treated by brachycurietherapy (BCT) and external radiation therapy (ERT) in a phase II nonrandomized study. There were 13 grade III and 3 grade IV tumors according to the WHO classification. Five patients in the grade III group who showed anaplastic foci in a generally grade II background were separately examined. Six patients received only BCT whereas 10 patients were treated by a combination of BCT and ERT, according to the tumor volume. We utilized as radioactive sources 192Ir in 14 cases and 125I in 2. Thirteen patients underwent permanent implant, 3 others received temporary irradiation with removable afterloaded catheters. The target volume was less than 50 cc in 8 cases, between 50 and 100 cc in 7, and larger than 100 cc in 1 patient. The total dose at the periphery of these volume ranged between 70 and 144 Gy. The result were analyzed referring to the following aspects: performance status, survival, side effects, grading. The impact of BCT was analyzed especially in a grade III with anaplastic foci group which showed a median survival of 6 years compared with only 2 years median survival of the pure grade III group.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Radiologia, UCSC, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Montemaggi
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Morganti
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smaniotto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iacoangeli
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roselli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scerrati
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D009380:Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes