Patient case: 84-year-old male with glioblastoma; genetic feature: CDK6

Clinical trial: Temozolomide During and After Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients Who Have Undergone Previous Surgery and Placement of Gliadel Wafers for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme

Summary: RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Giving temozolomide during and after radiation therapy may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery and placement of Gliadel wafers.
  PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving temozolomide during and after radiation therapy works in treating patients who have undergone previous surgery and placement of Gliadel wafers for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme.

Detailed description: OBJECTIVES:
  -  Determine the efficacy of adjuvant temozolomide when administered during and after external beam radiotherapy, in terms of survival, in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme who have undergone prior total surgical resection and placement of polifeprosan 20 with carmustine implant (Gliadel® wafers).
  OUTLINE: This is an open-label study.
  Patients undergo external beam radiotherapy 5 days a week for 6 weeks and concurrently receive oral temozolomide once daily for 6 weeks. No more than 28 days later, patients receive additional oral temozolomide once daily on days 1-5. Treatment with temozolomide repeats every 28 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
  After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 2 months for survival.
  PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 72 patients will be accrued for this study within 18 months.

Eligibility: DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
  -  Histologically confirmed supratentorial grade IV astrocytoma (glioblastoma multiforme)
  -  Underwent gross total resection within the past 6 weeks
  -  Postoperative contrast-enhancing tumor extends ≤ 1 cm from the margin of the surgical cavity
  -  6-8 polifeprosan 20 with carmustine implants (Gliadel® wafers) were placed in the surgical resection cavity at time of surgery
  PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
  Age
  -  18 and over
  Performance status
  -  Karnofsky 60-100%
  Life expectancy
  -  Not specified
  Hematopoietic
  -  Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
  -  Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3
  Hepatic
  -  Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
  -  Transaminases ≤ 4 times upper limit of normal
  Renal
  -  Creatinine ≤ 1.7 mg/dL
  Other
  -  Not pregnant or nursing
  -  Negative pregnancy test
  -  Fertile patients must use effective contraception
  -  No known hypersensitivity reaction to temozolomide
  -  No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated carcinoma in situ or basal cell skin cancer
  PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
  Biologic therapy
  -  No prior immunotherapy for the brain tumor
  -  No prior biologic agents (e.g., immunotoxins, immunoconjugates, antisense agents, peptide-receptor agonists, interferons, interleukins, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, lymphokine-activated killer cell therapy, or gene therapy) for the brain tumor
  Chemotherapy
  -  See Disease Characteristics
  -  No other prior chemotherapy for the brain tumor
  Endocrine therapy
  -  No prior hormonal therapy for the brain tumor
  -  Prior glucocorticoid therapy allowed
  Radiotherapy
  -  No prior radiotherapy for the brain tumor
  Surgery
  -  See Disease Characteristics

Relevance to patient case: not relevant