title: Northern California Oncology Group protocol 6G91: response to treatment with radiation therapy and seven-drug chemotherapy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme.
abstract: The Northern California Oncology Group (NCOG) conducted a nonrandomized phase II study to evaluate the benefit of a seven-drug chemotherapy protocol (NCOG 6G91) in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GM). Time to tumor progression was the primary end point of the study. The treatment consisted of 5-FU and lomustine administered after surgery and before radiation therapy, hydroxyurea and misonidazole during radiation therapy, and procarbazine and vincristine alternated with carmustine and 5-FU after radiation therapy. Ninety patients entered the study; data from the 64 patients with GM who completed radiation therapy and at least started the postradiation chemotherapy regimen and returned for follow-up examination are analyzed in this report. The median time to tumor progression in the 64 adequately treated patients was 42 weeks; the 25th percentile value was 60 weeks. A Cox multivariate analysis showed that age and extent of surgical resection were important prognostic variables in patients with GM. The results of this treatment regimen were similar to those of a previous NCOG protocol (6G61), which consisted of hydroxyurea during radiation therapy followed by chemotherapy with carmustine or a combination of lomustine, procarbazine, and vincristine.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed