Treatment of malignant gliomas with surgery, intra-arterial infusions of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)chloroethylnitrosourea, and radiation therapy: a phase II study.

Forty patients with malignant supratentorial gliomas were treated with surgery, intra-arterial infusions of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)chloroethylnitrosourea, and radiation therapy. The median duration of survival was 12 months; it differed according to the histological subtype (over 30 months for patients with anaplastic astrocytomas or anaplastic oligodendroglioma and 10.5 months for glioblastoma; P = 0.0025). Serious complications of monocular blindness and leukoencephalopathy were observed in four patients (10%).