Carboplatin chemotherapy in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma

To investigate the efficacy of carboplatin chemotherapy in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (HGG) who had received at least two previous lines of chemotherapy.

Case notes of patients who had received chemotherapy with carboplatin for recurrent HGG between June 2005 and July 2008 were reviewed. Baseline characteristics and outcomes after treatment were recorded.

Twenty-six patients received carboplatin as third- or fourth-line chemotherapy for recurrent HGG (grade III glioma n=8; grade IV glioma n=18). The median number of cycles completed was 2.5. The most common reasons for discontinuing treatment were progressive disease and death (n=19; 73%). Three patients (12%) had a partial response, five (19%) had stable disease and 18 (69%) had progressive disease. Six month progression-free survival was 23% (25% in patients with grade III glioma and 22% in patients with grade IV glioma). The median time to disease progression from the first treatment with carboplatin was 9.0 weeks. The median survival was 19.4 weeks (27.9 weeks for patients with grade III glioma and 8.1 weeks for patients with grade IV glioma). Among patients with either stable disease or a partial response, the median survival was 42.4 weeks compared with 11.7 weeks in patients with progressive disease (hazard ratio for death with progressive disease on treatment: 5.02; 95% confidence interval 1.64-15.4; P=0.005). Carboplatin was well tolerated overall.

Single-agent carboplatin has modest activity in patients with recurrent HGG who have received at least two lines of chemotherapy. The overall time to progression is short and over two-thirds of patients had to discontinue treatment due to progressive disease. Among the small proportion of patients achieving stable disease or a partial response to treatment, the median survival is improved. More effective but well tolerated regimens are required for this patient population.