Interstitial hyperthermia with intra-arterial injection of adriamycin for malignant glioma.

A new method for treating malignant glioma by concurrent intra-arterial injection of adriamycin during thermotherapy was performed in seven patients with malignant glioma, four males and three females, with five cases of glioblastoma and two of anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Adriamycin was intra-arterially injected at a dose of 20 mg via the common carotid artery during thermotherapy. The heating procedure was repeated three times combined with chemotherapy in one therapy course, and a total of nine therapy courses were performed in the seven patients. All patients tolerated the protocol well. Based on post-therapy computed tomography, five of the therapy courses achieved partial response, one course resulted in disease progression, and the remaining three courses showed no change. The median time to progression was 3.4 months and the overall median length of survival following stereotactic biopsy was 13.2 months. Facial flushing was observed during eight therapy courses, and extensive alopecia in six therapy courses. Intracystic concentrations of adriamycin were determined in three patients, and marked increases were observed. Intra-arterial injection chemotherapy during hyperthermia is a promising therapeutic method for treatment of malignant glioma with few adverse effects.