Efficacy and safety of intra-arterial chemoperfusion as palliative treatment of symptomatic primary brain malignancies

BACKGROUND: To retrospectively analyze the safety and efficacy of intra-arterial chemoperfusion (IAC) for symptomatic patients with recurrent or post-therapeutic progressive primary malignant brain tumors in regard to safety, survival and therapy response as a palliative treatment. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients (24 men, 15 women; mean age: 52) who were treated by IAC in 181 sessions (mean: 4.6 sessions/patient) were enrolled and evaluated in this study. Out of total 39 patients with primary malignant brain tumor, 27 (69 %) were diagnosed with glioblastoma. The overall survival (OS) was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Therapy response was determined according to RECIST 1.1. RESULTS: All IAC treatments were performed without major adverse events or treatment-related deaths. The median OS time was 10.3 months (95 %CI: 0.6 - 19.9). The median PFS time was 5.9 months (95 %CI: 3.6 - 8.3). The rate of partial response was 10.8 % (4/37) and stable disease was achieved in 56.8 % (21/37) of patients. Progressive disease was observed in 32.4 % of cases (12/37). There were no cases of complete response. In two cases RECIST could not be analyzed due to loss of radiological follow-up. CONCLUSION: This study could show that IAC may serve as a safe palliative strategy for symptomatic patients with recurrent or post-therapeutic progressive primary malignant brain tumors.