THERAPEUTIC RESULTS OF INTRAARTERIAL CHEMOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT GLIOMA

Thirty-three adult patients with anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastom a multiforme, verified between 1990 and 1997, received postoperative i ntra-arterial ACNU chemotherapy and irradiation. Since our previous st rategies to malignant gliomas had included intra-venous ACNU, the purp ose of the present study is to evaluate the advantage of intra-arteria l ACNU over its intra-venous counterpart as the historical control (37 patients). The median survival was 74.7 weeks for the former and 81.7 weeks for the latter. Although both groups were equivalent in surviva l, toxicity was less frequent in the intra-arterial group. Histopathol ogical diagnosis, patient age and the Karnofsky's performance status r elated well with the survival.