LOW-DOSE CALCIUM LEUCOVORIN WITH CONTINUOUS 5-FLUOROURACIL INFUSION -A CLINICAL-STUDY

Two hundred and sixty patients with malignant disease were treated, fi rst with an intramuscular injection of 15 mg of calcium (ca.) leucovor in followed in 16 hours by a continuous infusion of 1000 mg/M(2) of 5- fluorouracil and 15 mg of ca, leucovorin; both given over 24 hours for 5 days. Courses were repeated, toxicity permitting, every 21 days. Se vere stomatitis and marrow suppression occurred in every patient but w ere tolerable and rapidly reversible. Severe diarrhea occurred in only 12 patients. No patient died as a result of therapy. In patients with metastatic carcinoma of the large bowel who had not been treated in t he past with a fluorinated pyrimidine, 39% of patients had a partial o r complete remission, with a mean duration of response of 16.5 months. In those with carcinoma of the breast who had not received prior non- hormonal therapy, 39% had a partial or complete remission. It is our i mpression that the response rate and the duration of response in both these neoplasms are substantially better than that seen with fluoroura cil alone.