Introduction:

Infiltrating and diffuse gliomas of the brain stem in children and adolescents lead to a poor prognosis and a short survival time.

Objective:

Present the results obtained with the combination of nimotuzumab and radiotherapy in brain stem tumors in children and adolescents.

Methods:

The monoclonal antibody called nimotuzumab combined with radiotherapy was applied in a series of 69 patients aged between 2 and 18 years, from 2008 to 2020, and followed until August 2021. They were irradiated at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology in Havana, with a dose in a range of 54 to 59 Gy. Nimotuzumab was applied at the dose of 150 mg/m2 of body surface area, once a week while the radiation treatment was active, then every 2 weeks with the same dose, and finally once a month for 1, 2 or more years.

Results:

At the end of the combined treatment of radiotherapy and nimotuzumab, there was a response in 89.9% of the patients. The median overall survival time was 18.8 months and series survival rates were 76.4; 45.4; 38.9; 32.8; and 31.5% at one, two, three, four, five and more years, respectively, and it was stabilized from this time to 10 years and more. Three relapsed patients were re-radiated.

Conclusions:

The combination of radiotherapy and nimotuzumab was well tolerated and is an option for the treatment in brain stem tumors in children and adolescents.

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