Visual toxicity following intra-arterial chemotherapy with hydroxyethyl-CNU in patients with malignant gliomas. A prospective study with statistical analysis.

We studied the effects of intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) with a new nitrosourea (hydroxyethyl-chloroethyl nitrosourea: HeCNU) on the visual system of 68 patients with malignant gliomas. The intra-arterial chemotherapy was given as a complementary treatment of glioma after surgery (19 patients), after tumor recurrence (28 patients) and as the preliminary treatment before radiotherapy (21 patients). Eleven patients (16%) suffered a visual complication after two or more courses of chemotherapy. The main visual symptoms included mild to major decrease of visual acuity and in some cases ocular pain, palpebral edema and conjunctival injection. The delay in onset of ocular symptoms from the last course of IAC varied from 1 week to 9 months. From ophthalmoscopic findings, visual field testing and fluorescein angiography, the visual symptoms presented by our patients could be related to ischemic optic neuropathy or retinal vasculopathy. None of the patients had hypertension, diabetes, cardiopathy or hematological disease. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate a relationship between the occurrence of visual toxicity and patient age, number of courses of HeCNU, the vascular axis treated, total systemic dose or dose by carotid artery, suggesting a possible specific sensitivity of some patients to chemotherapy. The pathophysiology and the therapeutic implications of this visual toxicity are discussed.