Chemotherapy of malignant gliomas: comparison of the effect of polychemo- and CCNU-therapy.

Postoperative survival times of patients suffering from glioblastoma (astrozytoma III-IV) were compared in unselected groups receiving different forms of therapy: standard surgical therapy (16 cases, mean survival time 6.27 +/- 3.75 months), postoperative polychemotherapy (16 patients, survival time 8.96 +/- 4.97 months) or postoperative CCNU-monotherapy (24 cases, survival time 6.98 +/- 4.46 months). The mean survival time in the group receiving polychemotherapy was prolonged significantly when compared to the group with standard treatment. Survival time of the patient group treated with CCNU was not significantly increased. The results indicate that postoperative combination chemotherapy is more effective than CCNU monotherapy.