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ABSTRACT: Background
Brain radiation necrosis (BRN) can be a complication of radiotherapy for primary and secondary brain tumors, as well as head and neck tumors. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is also a vascular permeability factor in the brain, bevacizumab, a humanized antibody that inhibits VEGF, would be expected to reduce perilesional edema that often accompanies BRN.Methods
Patients with surgically untreatable, symptomatic BRN refractory to conventional medical treatments (eg, corticosteroid, anticoagulants, or hyperbaric oxygen therapy) were enrolled. We judged that a major cause of perilesional edema with a lesion-to-normal brain ratio ≤1.8 on 11C-methionine or ≤2.5 on 18F-boronophenylalanine PET was BRN, not tumor recurrence, and 6 cycles of biweekly bevacizumab (5 mg/kg) were administered. The primary endpoint was a ≥30% reduction from the patients' registration for perilesional edema continuing for ≥1 month.Results
Of the 41 patients enrolled, 38 were fully eligible for the response assessment. The primary endpoint was achieved in 30 of the 38 (78.9%) patients at 3.0 months (median) after enrollment. Sixteen patients (42.1%) experienced improvement of their Karnofsy Performance Score. Corticosteroid use could be reduced in 29 patients (76.3%). Adverse events at grade ≥3 occurred in 10 patients (24.4%).Conclusions
Bevacizumab treatment offers certain clinical benefits for patients with surgically untreatable, symptomatic BRN. The determination of BRN using amino-acid PET, not biopsy, is adequate and less invasive for determining eligibility to receive bevacizumab.
SUBMITTER: Furuse M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5099992 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Furuse Motomasa M Nonoguchi Naosuke N Kuroiwa Toshihiko T Miyamoto Susumu S Arakawa Yoshiki Y Shinoda Jun J Miwa Kazuhiro K Iuchi Toshihiko T Tsuboi Koji K Houkin Kiyohiro K Terasaka Shunsuke S Tabei Yusuke Y Nakamura Hideo H Nagane Motoo M Sugiyama Kazuhiko K Terasaki Mizuhiko M Abe Tatsuya T Narita Yoshitaka Y Saito Nobuhito N Mukasa Akitake A Ogasawara Kuniaki K Beppu Takaaki T Kumabe Toshihiro T Nariai Tadashi T Tsuyuguchi Naohiro N Nakatani Eiji E Kurisu Shoko S Nakagawa Yoko Y Miyatake Shin-Ichi SI
Neuro-oncology practice 20160107 4
<h4>Background</h4>Brain radiation necrosis (BRN) can be a complication of radiotherapy for primary and secondary brain tumors, as well as head and neck tumors. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is also a vascular permeability factor in the brain, bevacizumab, a humanized antibody that inhibits VEGF, would be expected to reduce perilesional edema that often accompanies BRN.<h4>Methods</h4>Patients with surgically untreatable, symptomatic BRN refractory to conventional medical treat ...[more]