title: High-dose cyclophosphamide chemotherapy for recurrent CNS tumors in children.
abstract: A Phase Ii chemotherapy trial was conducted in 18 children with recurrent brain tumors, using high doses (80 mg/kg or greater) of intravenous cyclophosphamide cyclophosphamide. All eight patients with medulloblastomas responded; two patients with systemic metastases had complete responses and six others had partial responses. In seven patients with gliomas, there were one complete and four partial responses. In a third group, all three patients with intracranial germ-cell tumors had partial responses. The overall response rate was, therefore, 89% (16 of 18 patients), and the mean duration of response was 7 months (range 2 to 24 or more months). The hematological toxicity was considerable, with two deaths possibly related to chemotherapy: one patient, a recipient of unirradiated packed cells, died from a graft versus host reaction, and the other died from an intracranial hemorrhage during a thrombocytopenic episode. Four patients had prior chemotherapy, and 10 patients had prior neuraxis radiation therapy. These patients tolerated aggressive chemotherapy reasonably well. The results are sufficiently encouraging to justify a Phase III trial in patients with newly diagnosed disease.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008527:Medulloblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010871:Pinealoma / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D003520:Cyclophosphamide