A PHASE-II TRIAL OF ETOPOSIDE, LEUCOVORIN AND 5-FLUOROURACIL (ELF) INPATIENTS WITH ADVANCED GASTRIC-CANCER

Etoposide, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil (ELF) chemotherapy has been r eported to be less toxic yet effective (response rates of 50%) in pati ents with advanced gastric cancer. A phase II study of ELF in 25 patie nts (11 males, 14 females, median age 53 years) with advanced adenocar cinoma of the stomach is reported. Patients received outpatient intrav enous etoposide 120mg/m(2) over 2 hours, folinic acid 300mg/m(2) over 2 hours, 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m(2) boluses daily for 3 days every 21 days. Of 17 measurable patients, there was one complete response (CR), 4 partial responses (PR) for a total response rate of 29.4%. Non-hema tologic toxicity was modest (grade 0 vomiting 11/21, stomatitis 16/21, diarrhea 17/21). Grade 3/4 neutropenia was seen in 14/23, thrombocyto penia in 2/23, anemia in 5/23 patients. Median progression-free and ov erall survival was 4.1 and 7.1 months, respectively. In conclusion, EL F chemotherapy shows only modest activity in patients with advanced ga stric cancer and is associated with severe hematologic toxicity.