Radiotherapy combined with procarbazine, bleomycin, and CCNU in the treatment of high-grade supratentorial astrocytomas.

Twenty consecutive patients with supratentorial Grade III and IV astrocytomas were treated with postoperative radiotherapy, and a simultaneous induction chemotherapy with 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (CCNU), procarbazine, bleomycin, and maintenance chemotherapy with CCNU. They were compared to 32 retrospective control patients selected similarly, who had received postoperative radiation therapy alone. The median survival time was 56 weeks for the combined treatment group, and 51 weeks for the control group. There was no statistical difference in survival in the two groups of patients.