Bevacizumab and Brain Tumors
Bevacizumab has been approved as a single agent for patients with glioblastoma with progressive disease following prior therapy. The limited survival of glioblastoma and their excessive need for steroids to control the signs and symptoms of intracranial edema made the arrival of an antiangiogenic therapy an interesting new development. Unfortunately, in part due to the lack of a proper control group in the first studies evaluating bevacizumab in malignant glioma patients, we have failed to prove a survival advantage for bevacizumab in this patient population. However, the use of bevacizumab became widespread as it helped control the symptom burden experienced by patients due to intracranial mass effect; limit the utilization of corticosteroids and the side effect of its prolonged usage; help prolong time to progression, which has been directly correlated to neurologic decline in most trials; and make therapy like stereotactic radiosurgery and immunotherapy safer.
