Intrathecal Chemotherapy for Brain Cancer: What You Need to Know

Chemotherapy is a drug-based treatment used to damage or kill malignant (cancerous) cells in the body. In some circumstances, chemo drugs can be administered directly to the spinal column to combat certain cancers of the brain.

The Facts

• When administered through an IV, most chemotherapy medications cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and reach cancers in the brain, according to the American Cancer Society. In these cases, doctors use intrathecal chemotherapy, which involves injecting chemo drugs directly into the cerebrospinal fluid around the spinal cord and brain.

Treatment Methods

• Doctors may give intrathecal chemotherapy through a spinal tap (lumbar puncture), or through an access port installed in the skull called an Ommaya reservoir, reports the ACS.

Chemo Drugs

• The ACS lists drugs used for intrathecal chemotherapy that include cisplatin, carboplatin, methotrexate, vincristine and etoposide. Depending on the form of brain cancer present, doctors may administer these drugs separately or in combination.

Specific Cancers

• Intrathecal chemotherapy is typically used to fight cancers that have spread (metastasized) to the brain or spinal cord, notes the ACS. Examples include leukemias, advanced breast and lung cancers and certain lymphomas.

Considerations

• Once tumor growth occurs in the spinal cord or brain, intrathecal chemotherapy cannot stop its advance, according to the ACS.