Chemotherapy: what is its role in meningioma?

Abstract

While strong evidence exists for the standard therapy for meningiomas, inclusive of surgery and/or radiation therapy, for those tumors which recur, progress or are inoperable, the optimal medical therapies are yet to be elucidated. This article reviews the current literature for chemotherapeutic options for this subset of tumors, including cytotoxic agents, biologic agents, targeted molecular agents and hormonal agents. At this point in time, the most data is with hydroxyurea and somatostatin, although further trials with combination and targeted molecular therapies are still underway.

Keywords::

• bevacizumab
• chemotherapy
• erlotinib
• gefitinib
• hydroxyurea
• imatinib mesylate
• IFN-a
• meningioma
• mifepristone
• octreotide
• somatostatin
• tamoxifen