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NCCN Updates Guidelines for Central Nervous System (CNS) Cancers
NCCN recently updated the NCCN Guidelines for Central Nervous System (CNS) Cancers. Important new updates include the recommendation to use bevacizumab as a single agent for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme in CNS cancers, the integration of a patient’s Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score into treatment decisions, and an adjusted age range for adjuvant therapy options in patients with low grade gliomas.
May 18, 2009
FORT WASHINGTON, PA — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announces new updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ for Central Nervous System (CNS) Cancers. These changes reflect leading developments in the treatment of patients with central nervous system cancers and represent the standard of clinical policy in oncology in both community and academic settings.
Primary and metastatic brain tumors are heterogeneous with diverse outcomes and management strategies. Because of this variability, the NCCN Guidelines note that prognostic features and treatment options for brain tumors must be carefully reviewed for each patient.
For patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, the updated NCCN Guidelines now recommend bevacizumab (Avastin®, Genentech/Roche) as a single agent without irinotecan (Camptosar®, Pfizer) for recurrence/salvage therapy. Previously, bevacizumab was only an option when used in combination with irinotecan.
Another noteworthy change in the updated NCCN Guidelines for patients with glioblastoma multiforme is the integration of a patient’s Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score into the recommendation for adjuvant therapy. A KPS score is a standard way of measuring the ability of patients to perform ordinary tasks; the higher the score, the better the patient is able to carry out daily activities.
The new NCCN Guidelines adjusted the age range for patients with specific low grade gliomas who may consider fractionated external beam radiation therapy or chemotherapy as additional options to observation following maximal safe resection to 40 years and over. Previously, patients 45 and older were considered candidates for these adjuvant treatment options. For those under the age of 40, the NCCN Guidelines continue to recommend that patients remain under observation without any adjuvant therapy.
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are developed and updated through an evidence-based process with explicit review of the scientific evidence integrated with expert judgment by multidisciplinary panels of physicians from NCCN Member Institutions. The most recent version of this and all the NCCN Guidelines are available free of charge at NCCN.org.