Intracarotid cisplatin chemotherapy for high-grade astrocytomas

Twenty-five patients with malignant astrocytomas (grade III and IV) were treated with intraarterial infusions of cisplatin at 4/8 weeks intervals. Of the 23 evaluable patients, none had a complete response, 1 (4.3%) had a probable response (unequivocal improvement in the neurological examination and CT evidence of a decrease in tumor size), 15 (65.2%) had stable disease, and 7 (30.5%) had a progression (unequivocal worsening of both the neurological examination and the CT scan). Twenty-one of the 25 patients exhibited some degree of toxicity; the only two serious complications observed were neurological and retinal.