Marie Amélie Heng, Laetitia Padovani, Philippe Dory-Lautrec, Jean Claude Gentet, Arnaud Verschuur, Eddy Pasquier, Dominique Figarella-Branger, Didier Scavarda and Nicolas André from the Service d’hématologie et Oncologie Pédiatrique, AP-HM, the Metronomics Global Health Initiative, and the Aix-Marseille Université, INSERM, CRO2 UMR_S 911, Marseille France Have just published in Cancer Medicinea short report entitled : Can metronomic maintenance with weekly vinblastine prevent early relapse/progression after bevacizumab–irinotecan in children with low- grade glioma?

The association of bevacizumab and irinotecan has been shown to display a quick efficacy in low-grade glioma (LGG), but most patients relapse within months after cessation of therapy. From October 2012 to March 2014, four patients have been treated with irinotecan–bevacizumab followed by a metronomic maintenance with weekly vinblastine to try to prevent relapses. After a median follow-up of 23 months after the end of the bevacizumab–irinotecan induction, no patient relapsed. These observations suggest that maintenance chemotherapy with weekly vinblastine after an induction by irinotecan–bevacizumab can improve progression-free survival in children with LGG and add further data about the use of metronomic as a maintenance.

This is an open acces journal so full text is freely available here and the pdf file of the paper is attached to this post.