levoleucovorin and Neuroectodermal-Tumors--Primitive

We have evaluated the response rate and survival utilizing intensified chemotherapy followed by myeloablative chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic cell rescue (AuHCR) and adjuvant radiation therapy in six young children with newly diagnosed brainstem primitive neuroectodermal tumors (bstPNET). Following maximum surgical resection of the tumor, patients received high dose induction chemotherapy including vincristine, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and etoposide. Eligible patients received a single cycle of myeloablative chemotherapy followed by AuHCR. Two patients survive at least 32 months with stable disease. This approach provides an alternative for young patients with bstPNET who in prior reports have had a uniformly fatal prognosis.

Topics: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Brain Damage, Chronic; Brain Stem; Carboplatin; Child; Child, Preschool; Cisplatin; Combined Modality Therapy; Cranial Irradiation; Cyclophosphamide; Etoposide; Humans; Infant; Infratentorial Neoplasms; Leucovorin; Mesna; Methotrexate; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; Remission Induction; Thiotepa; Transplantation, Autologous; Vincristine