Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Nov 2003
Safety and efficacy of convection-enhanced delivery of gemcitabine or carboplatin in a malignant glioma model in rats.
Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) can be used safely to perfuse regions of the central nervous system (CNS) with therapeutic agents in a manner that bypasses the blood-brain barrier (BBB). These features make CED a potentially ideal method for the distribution of potent chemotherapeutic agents with certain pharmacokinetic properties to tumors of the CNS. To determine the safety and efficacy of the CED of two chemotherapeutic agents (with properties ideal for this method of delivery) into the CNS, the authors perfused naive rats and those harboring 9L gliomas with carboplatin or gemcitabine. ⋯ The perfusion of sensitive regions of the rat brain can be accomplished without toxicity by using therapeutic concentrations of carboplatin or gemcitabine. In addition, CED of carboplatin or gemcitabine to tumors in this glioma model is safe and has potent antitumor effects. These findings indicate that similar treatment paradigms may be useful in the treatment of glial neoplasms in humans.