Faculty Bibliography

A bolus intravenous dose of 5-fluorouracil of 600 mg/M2 was added exactly 1 hour after methotrexate administration in an established combination program including bleomycin and cisplatin for advanced squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. Results were no better than those observed previously with the three drugs, and hematologic and mucosal toxicities were slightly worse. The overall response rate was 41% in 34 patients with recurrent or metastatic disease, with only 6% complete remissions. Median time to disease progression for responding patients was 14 weeks, compared with 10 weeks for nonresponders. Partial response had little impact on survival. Among 12 patients with far-advanced disease confined above the clavicles without prior radiotherapy, 9 (75%) achieved partial remission, but the median survival, even with later surgery or irradiation, was only 34 weeks

Mucocutaneous lesions are often a prominent manifestation of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Patients with this syndrome are susceptible to a number of opportunistic skin infections as well as an aggressive form of Kaposi's sarcoma. The diagnosis, the clinical setting, and the treatment of these diseases are discussed.

Eighteen patients with non-small cell lung cancer were entered into a phase II protocol of oral 4-demethoxydaunorubicin. All were evaluable for toxicity and 17 for response. The major toxicity was hematologic with eight patients developing an ECOG grade 3 or 4 toxicity. There were no responses to the treatment

Doxorubicin provides the most consistent response rate in hepatocellular carcinoma. We therefore initiated a trial with its analog 4'epidoxorubicin. Eighteen patients, all without prior treatment, were given the drug as a single agent every 3 weeks with dose escalation whenever possible. Five patients were treated by six-hour infusion and 13 by intravenous (IV) bolus injection, with the median dose being 90 mg/m2. The patients were of diverse ethnic background and included some with underlying cirrhosis and hepatitis B surface antigenemia. Three patients had partial remissions (6, 12, 48 weeks) for a response rate of 17%. Four patients also had prolonged stable disease (14, 26, 27, 38 weeks). Toxicity was mild, although cardiac toxicity developed in three patients at 685, 825, and 1,460 mg/m2 cumulative dose. The response to 4'epidoxorubicin in this study appears to be equivalent to the reported response rates for doxorubicin, with decreased toxicity

Thirty patients with advanced refractory breast cancer received bisantrene 260 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks. Reversible myelosuppression was the most commonly observed side effect. Four patients (13.3%) achieved objective partial response (90% confidence intervals 3-24%), while two patients (6.6%) had disease improvement with a PR + IMP rate of 19.9%. Seven additional patients (23.3%) had stabilization of disease. This drug has antitumor activity against breast cancer and warrants further study, particularly if problems with drug delivery are overcome.