Combination Chemotherapy Plus Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Brain Stem Glioma

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2006-04-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus radiation therapy in treating patients with newly diagnosed brain stem glioma.

• Phase: Phase 1
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Children's Oncology Group
• Collaborator: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Treatments: Cyclosporine; Cyclosporins; Etoposide; Etoposide phosphate; Vincristine

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Newly diagnosed diffuse intrinsic brain stem glioma by MRI Biopsy is neither necessary nor encouraged A least two-thirds of the tumor is in the pons Origin of the tumor is clearly in the pons Must be registered within 28 days of diagnosis Clinical history less than 6 months duration (cranial nerve deficit, long tract signs, or ataxia) No diffuse leptomeningeal disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 3 to 21 Performance status: Karnofsky or Lansky 50-100% Life expectancy: At least 6 weeks Hematopoietic: Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,000/mm3 Platelet count at least 75,000/mm3 Hepatic: SGPT less than 2 times normal Renal: Creatinine normal for age OR Creatinine clearance greater than 70 mL/min

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: No prior biologic therapy Chemotherapy: No prior chemotherapy No other concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: Prior steroids at stable or decreasing doses allowed Radiotherapy: No prior radiotherapy Surgery: Not specified Other: No other concurrent investigational agents