RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin, thiotepa, and etoposide, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. Isotretinoin may be effective in preventing recurrence of glioma. It is not yet known which regimen of chemotherapy plus autologous stem cell transplantation with or without isotretinoin is more effective in treating recurrent high-grade glioma.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying high-dose chemotherapy or intermediate-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation to see how well it works compared to high-dose chemotherapy or intermediate-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation and isotretinoin in treating young patients with recurrent high-grade glioma.

OBJECTIVES:

• Compare the event-free survival and overall survival of pediatric patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas treated with a single course of high-dose carboplatin, etoposide, and thiotepa and autologous stem cell transplantation vs multiple courses of intermediate-dose carboplatin and thiotepa and autologous stem cell transplantation with or without isotretinoin.
• Compare the number of hospital days and time to engraftment in patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the toxic death rate in patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the tolerability of isotretinoin in patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to pathologic diagnosis (glioblastoma multiforme vs anaplastic astrocytoma vs other high-grade glioma).

• Chemotherapy and autologous stem cell reinfusion (ASCR): Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

  • Arm I (high-dose chemotherapy and ASCR): Patients receive high-dose chemotherapy comprising carboplatin IV over 4 hours on days -8 to -6; thiotepa IV over 3 hours and etoposide IV over 3 hours on days -5 to -3; and filgrastim (G-CSF) IV or subcutaneously (SC) once daily beginning on day 1 and continuing until blood counts recover. Autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) or bone marrow are reinfused on day 0.
  • Arm II (intermediate-dose chemotherapy and ASCR): Patients receive intermediate-dose chemotherapy comprising carboplatin IV over 4 hours and thiotepa IV over 3 hours on days 1-2 and G-CSF IV or SC once daily beginning on day 4 and continuing until blood counts recover. Autologous PBSC or bone marrow are reinfused on day 3. Treatment repeats every 28 days for a total of 3 courses.

• Maintenance therapy: After recovery from chemotherapy (approximately day 30 post-transplantation), all patients are further randomized to 1 of 2 maintenance arms.

  • Arm I: Patients receive oral isotretinoin twice daily on days 1-14. Treatment repeats every 28 days for a total of 6 courses.
  • Arm II: Patients do not receive maintenance therapy. In all arms, treatment continues in the absence of disease progression.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 80-150 patients (40-75 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 5 years.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following high-grade gliomas:

  • Glioblastoma multiforme
  • Anaplastic astrocytoma
  • Gliosarcoma

• Disease in first relapse

• No primary brainstem or spinal cord gliomas

• No secondary glioblastomas arising after prior treatment for a non-glial tumor

• Prior local radiotherapy of 5,000-6,000 cGy required

• Less than 1.5 cm of residual gadolinium-enhancing tumor in maximal cross-sectional diameter by MRI

• No metastatic tumor by spinal MRI

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• Under 21 at diagnosis

Performance status

• Lansky 50-100% OR
• Karnofsky 50-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3 (transfusion independent)

Hepatic

• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST or ALT < 2.5 times ULN

Renal

• Glomerular filtration rate ≥ 60 mL/min AND/OR
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min

Cardiovascular

• Shortening fraction ≥ 27% by echocardiogram OR
• Ejection fraction ≥ 50% by MUGA

Pulmonary

• No dyspnea at rest
• No exercise intolerance
• Pulse oximetry > 94%

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy
• No prior thiotepa
• No prior myeloablative chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• No concurrent corticosteroids

Radiotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 8 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No prior craniospinal radiotherapy

Surgery

• Not specified