Etoposide in Treating Young Patients With Relapsed Ependymoma

• Status: Unknown status
• Trial end date: 1969-12-31
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as etoposide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well etoposide works in treating young patients with ependymoma.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group
• Treatments: Etoposide; Etoposide phosphate

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed intracranial ependymoma at first, second, or third relapse

• Anaplastic (malignant) or low-grade ependymoma (cellular, papillary, clear cell, or mixed variants)

• Unequivocal evidence of tumor recurrence or progression by MRI scan after failing conventional treatment (e.g., primary surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy) for initial or recurrent disease

• Unresectable disease OR not amenable to complete surgical resection

• Measurable enhancing or non-enhancing disease on baseline scan performed within the past 2 weeks

• Patients who have undergone prior surgery must have residual measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Lansky performance status 30-100%

• Life expectancy ≥ 8 weeks

• Absolute neutrophil count > 1,000/mm^3

• Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3

• Serum total bilirubin normal

• AST < 2 times upper limit of normal

• No unrelated medical condition (e.g., renal or liver impairment) that would preclude chemotherapy treatment

• No active infection

• No known HIV positivity

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics

• No radiotherapy within the past 6 weeks

• No chemotherapy within the past 4 weeks

• Prior IV etoposide allowed