Chemotherapy is used to treat both newly diagnosed and recurrent tumors. Chemotherapy involves the use of anti-cancer drugs, taken orally or intravenously. These drugs destroy the cancer cells by interfering with their growth or preventing them from reproducing.
Many malignant tumors may be treated with chemotherapy in addition to surgery and radiation. Commonly employed chemotherapy regimens for brain tumors are BCNU or PCV, which contains the drugs procarbazine, CCNU and vincristine. A number of different methods for delivering chemotherapeutic drugs that sidestep the blood-brain barrier, such as inserting material impregnated with the drug near the tumor, are currently being investigated in clinical trials.
Other chemotherapy drugs used in brain cancer include cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, temozolomide and carboplatin. Hydroxyurea is being evaluated for treating recurrent meningioma.
Patients who face little chance of a cure should be considered for clinical trials. There are a number of experimental treatments being evaluated in these trials.
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