Bevacizumab as secondline treatment of glioblastoma - worth the effort?

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the role of bevacizumab and irinotecan as secondline treatment of glioblastoma in patients with progression after radiotherapy and temozolomide.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of 16 subjects was performed with overall survival and toxicity evaluation as the primary endpoint.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed serious toxicity of this highly expensive regimen without proving an improvement in overall survival of patients in comparison to a control group.

CONCLUSION

Unless there are robust data from phase III clinical trials, including quality of life assessments or evaluation of predictive bio-markers to guide therapy, bevacizumab and irinotecan regimen should be spared for cautiously selected patients, especially in countries with limited budget for oncological treatment.