ANZCTR search results

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy is more effective with or without radiation therapy in treating patients who have rhabdomyosarcoma. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy in treating patients who have newly-diagnosed rhabdomyosarcoma.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying two different combination chemotherapy regimens and comparing how well they work in treating children with low-grade astrocytomas or other residual tumors of the brain.