Randomized Phase III Study of Sequential Radiochemotherapy of Anaplastic Glioma With PCV or Temozolomide

Summary

Background: The optimal treatment of anaplastic gliomas is controversial. Standard of care in most centers is still radiotherapy. This phase III study compared the efficacy and safety of radiotherapy vs chemotherapy in patients (pts) with newly-diagnosed, supratentorial gliomas of WHO grade III. Methods: Pts were randomized 2:1:1 between June 1999 and February 2005 in 34 German centers to receive (i) a 6-week course of radiotherapy (1,8-2 Gy fractions, total dose 54-60 Gy) or (ii) four 6-week cycles of CCNU at 110 mg mg/m2 on day 1, vincristine at 2 mg on days 8 and 29 and procarbazine at 60 mg/m2 on days 8-21 or eight 4-week cycles of 200 mg/m2 temozolomide on days 1-5. Treatment was stopped prematurely at disease progression or occurrence of unacceptable toxicity. At this time or at disease progression, treatment in the radiotherapy group was continued with one of the chemotherapies (1:1 randomization) and with radiotherapy in both chemotherapy groups. The primary endpoint was time-to-treatment-failure (TTF) defined as progression after radiotherapy and one chemotherapy in either sequence, or any time before if further therapy could not be employed. Assuming a 50% improvement in TTF of starting with chemotherapy, 318 pts were to be enrolled to provide 80% power to achieve statistical significance at a one-sided level of 0.05.

Timeline

Start

1999-06

Primary completion

2005-02

Completion

2008-03

Publications

• Results Wick W, Weller M for the Neurooncology Working Group (NOA) of the German Cancer Society Randomized phase -III study of sequential radiochemotherapy of oligoastrocytic tumors of WHO-grade III with PCV or temozolomide: NOA-04. J Clin Oncol 2008;26(15S):2007.
• Wick W, Roth P, Hartmann C, Hau P, Nakamura M, Stockhammer F, Sabel MC, Wick A, Koeppen S, Ketter R, Vajkoczy P, Eyupoglu I, Kalff R, Pietsch T, Happold C, Galldiks N, Schmidt-Graf F, Bamberg M, Reifenberger G, Platten M, von Deimling A, Meisner C, Wiestler B, Weller M; Neurooncology Working Group (NOA) of the German Cancer Society. Long-term analysis of the NOA-04 randomized phase III trial of sequential radiochemotherapy of anaplastic glioma with PCV or temozolomide. Neuro Oncol. 2016 Nov;18(11):1529-1537. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/now133. Epub 2016 Jul 1.

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