NEW ORLEANS – Early low-dose chemotherapy appears to substantially improve short-term survival in patients with the most aggressive and common form of brain cancer, offering the first significant advance against the disease in decades.

Whether the treatment can help cure brain cancer remains to be seen, but the approach at least seems to slow the often rapid progression of the disease for some.

The treatment, tested in a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme, involves the drug Temodar. Until now, the medicine has typically been used only after radiation to shrink the tumor.

A major international study released Monday shows that giving low doses of the capsule at the very start – for six or seven weeks during and after radiation – doubles the chance of being alive two years later.