Response to topotecan of symptomatic brain @entity3 of XXXX also after whole-brain irradiation. a multicentre phase II study.

@entity1 @entity137 @entity882 @entity281 @entity3 @entity151
The purpose of this multicentre phase II study was to evaluate the efficacy and @entity137 of topotecan in pretreated @entity1 with @entity151 ( @entity151 ) who relapsed with symptomatic brain @entity3 . 30 @entity1 with a median age of 62 years were entered into the study. 22 @entity1 received the initially planned dose of 1.5 mg/m(2) topotecan as a 30-min intravenous (i.v.) infusion for 5 consecutive days every 3 weeks. Due to the observed @entity882 , the dose was reduced to 1.25 mg/m(2) in the last 8 @entity1 . All 30 @entity1 were pretreated with chemotherapy: 14 with one and 16 with at least two protocols. 8 @entity1 had prior whole-brain iradiation (WBI): 7 in the prophylactic and 1 in the palliative setting. Concomitant systemic @entity3 were recorded in 24 @entity1 at the time of brain relapse. Cerebral @entity3 responded in 33% of @entity1 (10/30; three complete responses (CR) and seven partial responses (PR)). Noteworthy is the fact that response was achieved in 4 of 8 @entity1 pretreated by WBI (3 in prophylactic and 1 in palliative setting). The systemic response rate was 29% (7/24). Median time to progression was 3.1 months (range 0.25-14.2+ months), median survival from the beginning of this study was 3.6 months (range 0.25-14.2+ months). Therapy was generally well tolerated, with myelotoxicity being the most common adverse event. Grade 3 leucocytopenia according to the Common @entity137 Criteria (CTC) occurred in 28% (23/83) of the courses and grade 4 in 22% (18/83). Grade 3 @entity882 was observed in 17% of the courses (14/83) and grade 4 in 11% (9/83). 17% of @entity1 (5/30) had a documented grade 3 @entity281 . These results using topotecan are promising in heavily pretreated @entity1 with @entity151 brain @entity3 and merit further evaluation.
