Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University Announces Huge Finding for Rare Brain Tumor Patients

The addition of chemotherapy to radiation therapy nearly doubled median survival time for patients with anaplastic oligodendroglioma, a rare type of brain tumor, containing a genetic abnormality known as the 1p19q co-deletion. The finding, from a phase III trial in which patients were followed for a median of 11 years, may result in changes to at least one ongoing National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trial.

Dr. Walter J. Curran, Jr., executive director of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, was a senior author of the study. Curran is also group chairman of RTOG.

Among patients whose tumors carried the abnormality, those treated with chemotherapy and radiation survived for a median of 14.7 years, compared with 7.3 years for those who received radiation alone.

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