Hydroxyurea in Treating Patients With Recurrent and/or Unresectable Meningioma

Phase II Study of Hydroxyurea for the Treatment of Recurrent and/or Nonoperable Meningioma

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of hydroxyurea in treating patients who have recurrent and/or unresectable meningioma.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine complete, partial, or stable response to hydroxyurea in patients with recurrent and/or nonresectable meningioma.
• Determine response at 2 years to this regimen in these patients.
• Determine overall and disease free survival of these patients after this regimen.
• Determine quality of life of these patients.
• Determine the toxicities of this regimen in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to grade of disease (I vs II or III).

Patients receive oral hydroxyurea daily for 2 years.

Quality of life is assessed before treatment, then every 3 months for 2 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 60 patients (30 per stratum) will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically proven progressive meningioma that is not curable by surgery

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• 16 and over

Performance status:

• Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy:

• Over 3 months

Hematopoietic:

• WBC at least 3,000/mm^3
• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST and ALT no greater than 2 times ULN
• Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2 times ULN

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2 times ULN

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 6 months after study
• No other malignancy

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• Not specified

Chemotherapy:

• No prior chemotherapy
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

• Concurrent corticosteroids allowed for control of intracranial pressure

Radiotherapy:

• Prior radiotherapy allowed
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery:

• See Disease Characteristics

Other:

• At least 1 year since prior experimental therapy