NCT01011920

Trial for Patients With Newly Diagnosed Primary Central Nervous System (CNS) Lymphoma

Randomized Phase II Trial On Primary Chemotherapy With High-Dose Methotrexate And High-Dose Cytarabine With Or Without Thiotepa, And With Or Without Rituximab, Followed By Brain Irradiation Vs. High-Dose Chemotherapy Supported By Autologous Stem Cells Transplantation For Immunocompetent Patients With Newly Diagnosed Primary CNS Lymphoma

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 227 (actual)
• Sponsor: International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This is a multicenter open label randomized phase II trial. Enrolled Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma (PCNSL) patients will be stratified according to the IELSG score and randomized to receive one of the follows as primary chemotherapy: * Arm A: Methotrexate (MTX) + Cytarabine (Ara-C) * Arm B: MTX + Ara-C + rituximab * Arm C: MTX + Ara-C + rituximab + thiotepa. Chemotherapy will be administered every three weeks. The maximum number of chemotherapy induction courses will be 4. Patients in Stable Disease (SD) or better after two courses will receive two more courses of the same primary chemotherapy regimen. Stem-cells harvest will be performed in the three arms after the second course. After 4 courses response assessment will be performed. Patients who will not achieve SD or better after the 4th course, as well as those who will experience Progressive Disease (PD) at any time and those who will not achieve a sufficient stem cell harvest, will receive Whole Brain Radiation Therapy (WBRT) 36-40 Gy +/- tumor bed boost of 9 Gy. Patients who will achieve SD or better after the 4th course will be stratified according to objective response to primary chemotherapy and to primary chemotherapy regimen and randomly allocated to receive as consolidation therapy one of the follows: * Arm D: WBRT 36 Gy +/- boost 9 Gy * Arm E: Carmustine (BCNU) + Thiotepa + Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant (APBSCT) Patients in Complete Response (CR) after WBRT or APBSCT will remain in follow-up. Patients who will not achieve a CR after WBRT will be managed according to physician's preferences. Patients who will not achieve a CR after APBSCT will be referred to WBRT.

Conditions

• Central Nervous System Lymphoma

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Methotrexate	Methotrexate 3.5 g/m2 (0.5 g/m2 in 15 min. + 3 g/m2 in 3-hr infusion) on day 1, every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 courses.
DRUG	Ara-C	Cytarabine 2 g/m2 (1 hr infusion, twice a day every 12 hours), on d 2 - 3 every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 courses
DRUG	Rituximab	Rituximab 375 mg/m2 conventional infusion on day - 5 \& 0 every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 cycles
DRUG	Thiotepa	ARM C: Thiotepa 30 mg/m2 (30 min. Infusion) on day 4 every 3 weeks for a maximum of 4 courses ARM E: Thiotepa 5 mg/kg in 250 ml saline sol 2-hr inf. every 12 hrs days -5 \& -4
RADIATION	radiotherapy	Photons of 4-10 Mev, 180 cGy per day, 5 weekly fractions. Whole-brain will be irradiated by two opposite lateral fields including the first two cervical vertebras and the posterior two thirds of the orbits, which must be shielded after 30 Gy (after 36 Gy in the case of evident intraocular disease at diagnosis). Tumor-bed (boost or partial-brain RT) will be irradiated by 2 to 4 isocentric treatment fields based on tumor location, with all portals treated per each RT session.
DRUG	BCNU	BCNU 400 mg/m2 in 500 ml saline sol 1-hr inf. day -6
OTHER	APBSCT	Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplant (APBSCT)

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-11-01
• Primary completion: 2015-03-01
• Completion: 2024-12-19
• First posted: 2009-11-11
• Last updated: 2026-03-19
• Results posted: 2026-03-19

Locations

54 sites across 5 countries: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom