What You Need to Know about Brain Tumors

Clinical Trials

Researchers are looking for treatment methods that are more effective against brain tumors and have fewer side effects. When laboratory research shows that a new method has promise, doctors use it to treat cancer patients in clinical trials. These trials are designed to answer scientific questions and to find out whether the new approach is both safe and effective. Patients who take part in clinical trials make an important contribution to medical science and may have the first chance to benefit from improved treatment methods.

Many clinical trials of new treatments for brain tumors are under way. Doctors are studying new types and schedules of radiation therapy, new anticancer drugs, new drug combinations, and combinations of chemotherapy and radiation.

Scientists are trying to increase the effectiveness of radiation therapy by giving treatments twice a day instead of once. Also, they are studying drugs called radiosensitizers. These drugs make the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation. Another method under study is hyperthermia, in which the tumor is heated to increase the effect of radiation therapy.

Many drugs cannot reach brain cells because of the blood-brain barrier, a network of blood vessels and cells that filters blood going to the brain. Researchers continue to look for new drugs that will pass through the blood-brain barrier. Studies are under way using different techniques to temporarily disrupt the barrier so that drugs can reach the tumor.

In other studies, scientists are exploring new ways to give the drugs. Drugs may be injected into an artery leading to the brain or may be put directly into the ventricles. Doctors are also studying the effectiveness of placing tiny wafers containing anticancer drugs directly into the tumor. (The wafers dissolve over time.)

Researchers are also testing the use of very high doses of anticancer drugs. Because these higher doses may damage healthy bone marrow, doctors combine this treatment with bone marrow transplantation to replace the marrow that has been destroyed.

Biological therapy is a new way of treating brain tumors that is currently under study. This type of treatment is an attempt to improve the way the body's immune system fights disease.

Patients interested in taking part in a clinical trial should discuss this option with their doctor. They may want to read Taking Part in Clinical Trials: What Cancer Patients Need To Know an NCI booklet that explains some of the possible benefits and risks of treatment studies.

One way to learn about clinical trials is through PDQ, a computerized resource developed by the National Cancer Institute. This resource contains information about cancer treatment and about clinical trials in progress all over the country. The Cancer Information Service can provide PDQ information to patients and the public.

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