Comparison of intratumoral bolus injection and convection-enhanced delivery of radiolabeled antitenascin monoclonal antibodies.

OBJECTIVES: Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a novel technique used to deliver agents to the brain parenchyma for treatment of neoplastic, infectious, and degenerative conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine if CED would provide a larger volume of distribution (Vd) of a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody (mAb) than a bolus injection. METHODS: Patients harboring a recurrent glioblastoma multiforme that reacted with the antitenascin mAb 81C6 during immunohistochemical analysis were randomized to receive an intratumoral injection of the human-murine chimeric mAb Ch81C6, which had been labeled with the 123I tracer. The mAb was administered by either a bolus injection or CED via a stereotactically placed catheter; between 48 and 72 hours later the mAb was again administered using the other technique. Injections of escalating doses of a 131I-labeled therapeutic mAb were then delivered using the technique shown to produce the largest Vd by single-photon emission computerized tomography. CONCLUSIONS: Convection-enhanced delivery has enormous potential for administering drugs to sites within the central nervous system. For the relatively small volumes injected in this study, however, CED did not provide a significant increase in the Vd when compared with the bolus injection. Nevertheless, a clear cross-over effect was seen, which was probably related to the temporal proximity of the two infusions.

Duke Scholars

Author John Howard Sampson Neurosurgery

Author Allan Howard Friedman Neurosurgery

Author Darell Doty Bigner Neurosurgery