Glioblastoma remains one of medicine’s most unforgiving tumours, and second-line options have historically been limited, inconsistent and poorly studied. Our retrospective cohort study at The Canberra Hospital examined whether a metronomic combination of procarbazine and temozolomide could offer patients a practical and tolerable therapy after recurrence.
Across 28 patients with histologically confirmed GBM, we observed a 6-month progression-free survival of 50% and a median PFS of 5.7 months. The regimen produced mostly low-grade toxicities, with only two grade 3–4 haematological events and a single treatment discontinuation due to neutropaenia. These are encouraging outcomes when benchmarked against the fragmented literature that currently guides second-line GBM care.
What this study underscores is the value of re-evaluating older, inexpensive agents in metronomic dosing schedules that may offer stability without compounding toxicity. Larger prospective trials are needed, but our findings suggest that metronomic PT therapy remains a clinically meaningful option in a setting where therapeutic choices are sparse and disease trajectory remains aggressive.
We presented our research at the Asian Society for Neuro-Oncology in 2017.
If you want to understand how this informs what we do at Medly and why we do it, check out Medly, my publications & my current research.
Written by Dr William Maish
MD MBA MPH FHEA JD (in prog.)
Found of Medly & Medly Health
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