Treatment With Bevacizumab Plus Carboplatin for Recurrent Malignant Glioma

OBJECTIVE: To estimate overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), imaging responses, and toxicities of bevacizumab plus carboplatin for the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma. The secondary objective was to estimate the agreement between postcontrast T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 9 patients who received bevacizumab (10 mg/kg intravenously) and carboplatin (AUC 5 intravenously) for recurrent malignant glioma (World Health Organization grades III and IV) is presented. Eight of 9 patients received this regimen at first recurrence. RESULTS: The median age and Karnofsky performance score were 51 years and 70, respectively. For the 5 patients with grade III gliomas, the median PFS was 126 days, whereas median OS was not attained at 517 days of follow-up. Six-month PFS was 40%, whereas 6-month OS was 60%. For the 4 patients with grade IV gliomas, the median PFS was 216 days, whereas the median OS was not attained at 482 days of follow-up. Six-month PFS was 50%, whereas 6-month OS was 75%. The agreement between contrast-enhanced T1-weighted and T2-weighted images to determine recurrence was moderate (kappa=0.5714). Three patients had grade 3 and 4 toxicities including hyponatremia and thrombocytopenia. CONCLUSION: Patients who received the combination of bevacizumab plus carboplatin for recurrent malignant glioma had reasonable PFS, OS, and toxicities. The median OS in our series is promising at well over 1 year. Agreement between postcontrast T1- and T2-weighted images is only moderate in the context of bevacizumab therapy.