Adult Brain Tumor Treatment Information for Physicians

Important: This information is intended mainly for use by doctors and other health care professionals. If you have questions about this topic, you can ask your doctor, or call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

ADULT WELL-DIFFERENTIATED MILDLY AND MODERATELY ANAPLASTIC ASTROCYTOMA

Well-differentiated mildly and moderately anaplastic astrocytomas are less often curable.

Treatment options:

Standard:

Surgery plus radiation therapy, although some controversy exists and some
physicians treat these patients with surgery alone if the patient is younger
than 35 years of age and the tumor does not contrast-enhance on a
computed tomographic scan.[1]

Clinical trials in progress are evaluating the effect of adding drugs to
local therapy, for example, radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy
for incompletely resected well-differentiated mildly and moderately
anaplastic astrocytomas. Other trials are evaluating the effect of deferring
irradiation until the time of tumor progression and of high-dose versus
low-dose irradiation.

1. Shaw EG, Daumas-Duport C, Scheithauer BW, et al.: Radiation therapy in the management of low-grade supratentorial astrocytomas. Journal of Neurosurgery 70(6): 853-861, 1989.

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