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Survival of infants with malignant astrocytomas. A report from the childrens cancer group
Author(s) -
Geyer J. Russell,
Finlay Jonathan L.,
Boyett James M.,
Wisoff Jeffrey,
Yates Allan,
Mao Lian,
Packer Roger J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19950215)75:4<1045::aid-cncr2820750422>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - medicine , procarbazine , lomustine , anaplastic astrocytoma , vincristine , regimen , radiation therapy , astrocytoma , chemotherapy , oncology , cancer , chemotherapy regimen , survival rate , brain tumor , surgery , glioma , cyclophosphamide , pathology , cancer research
Background . Very young children with central nervous system malignant brain tumors have a poor prognosis. As compared with older children, survival is less likely, and those children who do survive frequently have severe impairment of growth and cognitive abilities, resulting partly from treatment with radiotherapy. Therefore, an intensive chemotherapeutic regimen was used to treat children younger than 2 years of age with a diagnosis of malignant astrocytomas. Patients and Methods . Thirty‐nine children younger than 24 months of age who were diagnosed with malignant astrocytoma were treated on a Childrens Cancer Group protocol with an eight‐drug chemotherapeutic regimen (vincristine, carmustine, procarbazine, hydroxyurea, cisplatin, cytosine arabinoside, prednisone, and dimethyl‐triazenoimidazole‐carboxamide) after surgery and postoperative staging. Radiation therapy was to be deferred until the completion of chemotherapy. Results . The objective response rate after two cycles of chemotherapy was 24%. Most patients did not receive radiotherapy.