Topotecan treatment of adults with primary malignant glioma

✍ Scribed by Henry S. Friedman; Tracy Kerby; Scott Fields; Janice E. Zilisch; David Graden; Roger E. McLendon; Peter J. Houghton; Susan Arbuck; Ilkcan Cokgor; Allan H. Friedman; The Brain Tumor Center at Duke

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 255 KB
• Volume: 85
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19990301)85:5<1160::aid-cncr21>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

Topotecan activity was evaluated for the treatment of malignant glioma.

METHODS.

Sixty-three patients with newly diagnosed (n ϭ 25) or recurrent (n ϭ 38) malignant glioma were treated with topotecan {AU: Please verify all dosages here and throughout text.}at a dose of 2.6 mg/m 2 over a 72-hour period weekly. Recurrent tumors included glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) (n ϭ 28) and anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) (n ϭ 10). Newly diagnosed tumors included GBM (n ϭ 14), AA (n ϭ 8), and anaplastic oligodendroglioma (n ϭ 3).

RESULTS.

Partial responses were observed in 2 of 14 evaluable patients with newly diagnosed GBM, 1 of 8 patients with newly diagnosed AA, 3 of 10 patients with recurrent AA, and none of 28 patients with recurrent GBM. Four patients with recurrent AA and 7 patients with recurrent GBM demonstrated stable disease (range, 8 -52 weeks; median, 21 weeks). Toxicity was limited to infrequent National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria Grade 3 myelosuppression.

CONCLUSIONS.

These results suggest that topotecan has modest activity against malignant glioma and continued evaluation of its effectiveness may be warranted when alternative schedules or combination regimens are used. Cancer 1999;85: 1160 -5.