Phase II study of weekly carboplatin in pretreated adult malignant gliomas

Patients with relapse of recurrent glioma have a poor outcome and limited treatment options. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical benefit and tolerability of weekly intravenous administration of carboplatin-based monotherapy in adult glioma patients who had progressed from previous chemotherapy lines based on temozolomide and nitrosoureas.

This was a single-arm, phase II study. Eligibility criteria included progressive or recurrent glioma after radiotherapy and chemotherapy-based treatments and Karnofsky performance status (KPS) > 60.

Thirty-two patients (median age 43.5 years) were enrolled to receive weekly carboplatin monotherapy in an intravenous method of administration. The median duration of response was 7.3 months with an overall disease control rate of 31.3%. Median progression-free survival was 2.3 months while overall survival was 5.5 months. Pre-treatment with corticosteroids (i.e. dexamethasone) was associated to clinical benefit in 43.8% of patients. Patients achieving clinical benefit exhibited a longer progression-free survival (4.6 vs. 1.5 months; p > 0.001) and overall survival (7.9 vs. 3.2 months; p = 0.041) compared with those not achieving clinical benefit.

Our findings show that single agent, weekly, intravenous administration of carboplatin may have a role in patients with recurrent glioma and suggest that pre-treatment with corticosteroids may confer survival benefit.