Stereotactic brachytherapy using iodine 125 seeds for the treatment of primary and recurrent anaplastic glioma WHO° III.

The current study analyzed the outcome after stereotactic brachytherapy (SBT) using iodine-125 seeds in anaplastic astrocytoma, oligoastrocytoma or oligodendroglioma not suitable for resection. Out of 223 patients harbouring a malignant glioma treated according to a prospective protocol, 172 patients were selected who received SBT to treat a WHO grade III de-novo/residual tumor (n = 99) or a tumor recurrence after multimodal treatment (n = 73). We assessed progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), radiological and clinical outcome and determined prognostic factors using univariate and multivariate regression analyses. The median follow-up time was 38 months. Median OS and median PFS was 28.9 and 21.4 months in the de-novo group vs. 49.4 and 32.6 months in the recurrence group. Recurrent tumors had more frequently (p = 0.01) an oligodendroglial-component compared to de novo tumors. According to cohort-specific univariate analyses KPS at SBT had a significant (p = 0.008) impact on OS in the de-novo group. In the recurrence group, (Cox regression analysis) OS was significantly associated with histology subtype (oligoastro-/oligodendroglioma vs. astrocytoma, p = 0.043). Transient and permanent morbidity (~1 %) was low. For patients unable to undergo surgery due to eloquent tumour location or reduced general condition SBT is an effective treatment option, which does not foreclose additional therapeutic interventions.

High-dose chemotherapy with autologous PBSC transplantation for poor prognosis germ cell tumors: a retrospective monocenter analysis of 44 cases.

Germ cell cancer (GCC) is curable in metastatic stages. The International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) reports a poor prognosis subgroup with a 5-year survival of 48%. High-dose chemotherapy with PBSC transplantation (HD-PBSCT) in these patients showed promising results in phase II, but failed to show significant advantage in randomized trials. We report our monocenter series of all poor and selected intermediate prognosis germ cell tumor patients treated with multiple-course HD-PBSCT and secondary surgery of remaining tissue. We performed a retrospective analysis of our complete series of 44 patients (40 poor prognosis and 4 intermediate prognosis) treated by HD-PBSCT as part of first-line therapy from 1999 to 2010. The CR rate after up to four cycles of HD-PBSCT and radical resection of residual manifestations was 73%. The 3-year survival rate was 79.5% (median follow-up of 51.5 months; range: 7-143 months). Disease-related death rate was 16%. HD-PBSCT-related death did not occur. One patient died postsurgery. Multiple courses of HD-PBSCT with radical secondary surgery is safe and effective in poor prognosis metastatic GCC. Despite disappointing phase III studies it is of high interest to further study this field.