Combined intra-arterial chemotherapy and irradiation of malignant gliomas

Seventy-nine patients with malignant gliomas (19 anaplastic astrocytomas and 60 glioblastoma multiforme) received 4 cycles of infra-ophthalmic carotid injection of 160 mg carmustine, 2 mg vincristine IV and procarbazine orally 50 mg 3 times daily for 1 week, followed by whole-brain irradiation, with a midpoint dose of 54 Gy/6 weeks. Response, judged by CT-scan, was seen in 31 out of 57 evaluable patients with a median survival of 30 months and 40% survival at 3 years. In all patients who responded to the treatment, a tumour regression was seen on CT-scan after chemotherapy before irradiation. In the 26 patients with progressive disease under chemotherapy, the median survival was 5 months. None of the patients who had progressive disease during chemotherapy had benefit from irradiation. The most important prognostic factors were good pretreatment performance status, glucocorticoid dependency and age. Few serious side-effects of the angiographic procedure were seen. Leukoencephalopathy was not observed in this study.