BCNU PLUS TENIPOSIDE (VM26) AS A 1ST LINE CHEMOTHERAPY FOR BRAIN METASTASES REGARDLESS OF THE ORIGIN

Twenty-nine patients with brain metastases regardless of the origin we re treated with the combination of 1-3-bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosour ea (BCNU), 120 mg/m2 i.v. every six weeks, and teniposide (VM26), 100 mg/m2 i.v. on the days 1 and 2 of every three-week period. Five object ive responses were obtained (17%), four of them being partial and one complete. The latter was observed in a patient suffering from breast c ancer, and still remains free of the disease after three years follow- up. The median survival time for the whole group is 14.6 weeks. Twelve more patients (41%) had symptomatic improvement related to chemothera py. The treatment was well tolerated and only mild and reversible toxi city was observed. A global 58% (17% plus 41%) symptomatic improvement was observed.