Chemotherapy for Brain Tumors — A New Beginning

Abstract

Primary brain tumors often resist treatment; the most common brain tumor in adults, glioblastoma, kills patients within a median of a year after diagnosis, even with aggressive surgical resection and radiotherapy. This dismal outcome has not substantially improved since the Brain Tumor Study Group published its results more than 25 years ago.¹ Numerous phase 3 trials have attempted to demonstrate a better outcome with the addition of chemotherapy (usually with a nitrosourea drug) to radiotherapy, but a significant prolongation of survival has never been observed, despite treatments with a variety of agents and delivery systems. There was a suggestion that . . .