Chemotherapy

At UCLA, some of the nation’s best minds in brain tumor care come together to make your treatment as successful as possible. Guided by intensive genetic testing and drawing from the best available chemotherapy options, we develop personalized treatments for each patient.

Personalized Chemotherapy at the UCLA Brain Tumor Center

Chemotherapy (neuro oncology) uses medications (agents) in different combinations to destroy cancer cells. When you receive chemotherapy at UCLA, you can be assured your treatment is:

• Advanced: Through research and clinical trials, we offer promising new treatments that are not widely available.
• Informed by experts: With a large team that includes medical oncologists who specialize in brain tumors, we meticulously plan your chemotherapy treatment. Meet our team.
• Personalized: We are one of the few centers examining each patient’s tumor tissue at a molecular level. We then draw from information in our vast BTTR database to determine the best medications to meet your unique needs.
• Safe: Our expertise means you receive the most appropriate medications delivered in precise doses and combinations. We provide therapies that are aggressive toward cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. 

UCLA uses proven chemotherapy agents. Thanks to genetic testing, we are able to determine the precise combination of agents that are best for you. We’re also unique in the broad range of chemotherapy delivery methods we offer.

Innovative Chemotherapy Delivery Methods for Brain Tumors

Chemotherapy for brain tumors can prove challenging, as agents often have difficulty reaching the target because of the way the brain protects itself from foreign substances (the blood-brain barrier). We use innovative delivery techniques, including some developed here at UCLA, to make your chemotherapy as successful as possible.

The delivery method we recommend depends on the type of tumor and which medications we use to treat it. Our methods include:

• Systemic delivery: In cases where it’s best for chemotherapy agents to pass through the blood-brain barrier, we may be able to deliver chemotherapy by a pill or injection.
• Intrathecal chemotherapy: This method delivers chemotherapy directly into your spinal fluid with the help of a long, thin-tube (catheter).
• Convection-enhanced delivery: We place a catheter directly into the tumor or nearby brain tissue to deliver chemotherapy slowly and continuously over several days.

Contact Us

Call us at (310) 825-5111 or send an email to [email protected] to request more information or make an appointment. You can also search our physician directory.