Brain Tumors: Primary - Other Treatments

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Transplantation Procedures and High-Dose Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy destroys not only cancer cells but also healthy cells, including special blood cells in the bone marrow called stem cells. Stem cells are immature cells from which all blood cells develop. Transplantation procedures using bone marrow or stem cells allow high-dose chemotherapy to be administered while protecting blood cells. The procedures are being tested for patients with brain tumors that are responsive to the effects of chemotherapy. A 2003 study, for example, reported long-term survival in some patients, but it is not clear if such rates are any better than other treatments. The procedure has serious, sometimes life-threatening, side effects.

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Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy uses a special drug (Photofrin) that is absorbed by the tumor and causes the cancer cells to become fluorescent when a laser is directed at them. It is being investigated in trials in combination with other treatments. A 2003 study reported encouraging results, notably with patients with recurring glioblastoma multiforme. In the study, more than half of these patients survived for at least a year.

Review Date: 10/19/2006
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital.

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