ACCELERATED RADIATION-THERAPY FOR PRIMARY LYMPHOMA OF THE BRAIN

Background and purpose: We report the results of a pilot study of the use of accelerated radiation therapy for 10 patients with primary lymp homa of the brain. Materials and methods: There were five females and five males with a median age of 60 years (range 31-77 years) and a med ian Karnofsky performance status of 60 (range 30-90). Nine patients un derwent biopsies only and one patient underwent a partial resection. T he radiation therapy consisted of 50 Gy in 25 fractions over 13 consec utive days to the whole brain including all meningeal surfaces. Two fr actions were delivered daily with a minimum interval of 6 h between fr actions. Treatment was delivered daily right through the weekend with no treatment interruptions. Results: To date nine patients have died. The median survival was 17 months. Seven patients have demonstrated de finite evidence of recurrence (six in the brain and one with positive CSF cytology only). There have been two autopsies, one of which demons trated diffusely recurrent tumor and the other showing residual diseas e and radiation demyelination and small areas of necrosis in the pens which undoubtedly was the cause of death at 5 months. One patient aliv e and free of recurrence at 69 months has bilateral radiation retinopa thy and an undiagnosed degenerative neurologic condition. Conclusion: We conclude that this accelerated schedule of radiation therapy is ine ffective in improving survival in primary lymphoma of the brain and is associated with unacceptable increased toxicity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc ience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.