New strategy developments in brain tumor therapy

Background: The incidence of brain and other central nervous system maligna nt neoplasias is 6.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants-years, and appears to in crease with increasing age (1.2 % per year), with the greatest rate of incr ease in the population over age 70 years. Material and methods: Chemotherap y remains part of the treatment that includes surgery and radiation therapy for the management of malignant gliomas. This article reviews the new drug s that have been introduced in the treatment of these patients in the lates t years, their specific cellular targets, the objective response, the TTP a nd the MST. Results: The, most encouraging results to date come from studie s of temozolomide, which is one of the most active and best tolerated drugs in recent years, and from clinical trials of CPT11. Conclusions: New appro aches to chemotherapy treatment are necessary. Enrollment of patients into rigorous, well conducted, clinical trials, both at tumor diagnosis and recu rrence, will generate new information regarding investigational therapies, and may offer improved therapies for patients with malignant gliomas.