Paclitaxel is well tolerated at this dose schedule in patients with recurrent malignant glioma, and affords a modest response rate. Because minimal myelotoxicity was encountered in our patients, a dose-escalating phase I/II study of paclitaxel is planned to determine the maximal-tolerated dose (MTD).
We attempted to show a dose effect relationship for radiation therapy by treating patients harbouring malignant glioma with increasing doses of radiation in a step-wise fashion. We postulated that no increase in delayed toxicity would be seen because we used hyperfractionation technique. Between January 1981 and December 1988 we treated 280 patients three times daily at 4 hour intervals. 100 patients received a total dose of 6141 cGy, 73 patients received 7120 cGy, and 107 patients received 8000 cGy. CCNU was given at the time of tumor progression following radiotherapy. Median time to tumor progression was 28 weeks for patients who received 6141 cGy, 27 weeks for patients who received 7120 cGy and 36 weeks for patients who received 8000 cGy. Median survival was 46 weeks for patients who received 6141 cGy, 38 weeks for patients who received 7120 cGy and 45 weeks for patients who received 8000 cGy. There was no statistically significant difference in either time to tumor progression or survival among the three treatment arms and no dose response effect was seen. There was no increase in delayed radiation toxicity when the total radiation dose was increased up to 8000 cGy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.