Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Recurrent Malignant Glioma

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically proven recurrent primary malignant glioma
• •* Measurable recurrent or residual primary central nervous system neoplasm confirmed by MRI
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age:
• •18 and over
• •Performance Status:
• •Karnofsky at least 60%
• •Hematopoietic:
• •Hematocrit greater than 29%
• •ANC greater than 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count greater than 125,000/mm\^3
• •Hepatic:
• •SGOT less than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •Bilirubin less than 1.5 times ULN
• •Renal:
• •Creatinine less than 1.5 mg/dL
• •BUN less than 25 mg/dL
• •Other:
• •Not pregnant
• •Effective contraceptive method must be used for the duration of the study
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy:
• •Not specified
• •Chemotherapy:
• •No prior chemotherapy within 6 weeks of study
• •No prior topotecan or carmustine treatment failure
• •No more than 1 prior chemotherapy regimen
• •Endocrine therapy:
• •Patients taking corticosteroids must be on stable dose for at least 2 weeks prior to study and the dose should not escalate over entry level
• •Radiotherapy:
• •No prior radiotherapy within 6 weeks of study
• •Surgery:
• •No prior surgical resection within 3 weeks of study
• •Other:
• •No concurrent medication that may interfere with study results