Administration of temozolomide during and after radiotherapy for newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas excluding glioblastoma multiforme.
Primary brain high-grade gliomas, excluding glioblastoma are rare and heterogeneous tumors, showing different characteristic mutations and a better prognosis than glioblastomas. The addition of chemotherapy to the radiotherapy in the newly diagnosed disease has not been established yet. We treated 9 patients with newly diagnosed tumors with temozolomide at 75 mg/m2 for 7 days a week during standard radiotherapy, followed by six cycles at 200 mg/m2 on days 1-5 every 28 days. Fluorescence in situ hybridization for the 1 p/19 q loss was performed in seven out of the 9 patients. With a median follow-up of 15 months (range, 8-50), eight patients are alive and one died from disease progression. Four patients had disease progression at 7, 15, 14 and 13 months from the diagnosis. The 1 p/19 q loss was found in 5 patients; three have no evidence of disease, one had partial disease remission and one disease progression. Toxicities included one discitis requiring treatment withdrawal and specific antibiotic therapy, and one transient grade 3 psoriasiform reaction. Based on this small series of patients, the addition of temozolomide to radiotherapy may be recommended.
Banna
Giuseppe Luigi
GL
Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Via Manzoni, 56, 20089, Milano, Rozzano, Italy.
Bettio
Daniela
D
Scorsetti
Marta
M
Navarria
Pierina
P
Simonelli
Matteo
M
Rodriguez Baena
Riccardo
R
Aimar
Enrico
E
Gaetani
Paolo
P
Colombo
Piergiuseppe
P
Rognone
Felice
F
Santoro
Armando
A
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D016019:Survival Analysis; D000077204:Temozolomide
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D003606:Dacarbazine; D000077204:Temozolomide