Successful treatment with a low-dose cisplatin–etoposide regimen for patients with diencephalic syndrome

Diencephalic syndrome (DS) is a rare but rapidly fatal condition, usually occurring during the first year of life, as a result of a hypothalamic/chiasmatic tumor. The purpose of this study was to induce an objective tumor response and to achieve rapid weight recovery by using ten three-day courses of reduced-dose cisplatin–etoposide. Between 2004 and 2009, eight pediatric patients with DS as a result of an hypothalamic tumor and with a median age at diagnosis of 6.5 months (range 4–60 months) received 10 monthly courses of cisplatin (25 mg/m²/day on days 1–3) and etoposide (100 mg/m²/day on days 1–3). Under chemotherapy, rapid weight recovery was observed for all patients; tumor response was observed for six (75 %; partial response in four and minimum response in two). The other two had stable disease at completion of treatment. Mean time to weight recovery was 6 months (range 5–7 months) for pilomyxoid astrocytoma patients, and 3.3 months (range 3–4 months) for those with pilocytic astrocytoma. For DS patients who received nutritional support (enteral or parenteral nutrition) the mean time for weight recovery was 5 months (range 3–7 months) whereas children who were able to orally ingest a high-energy diet had a mean time for weight recovery of 8.66 months (range 3–19 months). After follow-up ranging from 22 to 89 months (median 38 months) all patients are alive. A low-dose cisplatin–etoposide regimen is highly effective regarding tumor response and treatment of DS symptoms/cachexia without causing significant side-effects.