Pa. Ellis et al., A PILOT-STUDY OF MITOMYCIN, CISPLATIN AND CONTINUOUS-INFUSION 5-FLUOROURACIL (MCF) IN ADVANCED NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER, British Journal of Cancer, 71(6), 1995, pp. 1315-1318
A pilot study of continuous infusional 5-fluorouracil 200 mg m(-2) per
24 h by ambulatory pump and Hickman line for the entire treatment cyc
le with mitomycin C 8 mg m(-2) i.v. on day 1 and cisplatin 75 i.v. on
day 1, both repeated every 28 days, was carried out in 31 previously u
ntreated patients with mg m(-2) advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (N
SCLC). Of 31 patients assessable for response, one attained a complete
remission and eight a partial remission, an overall response rate of
29%. Haematological toxicity was minimal, with only 3% of patients dev
eloping WHO grade III/IV neutropenia and 13% grade III/IV thrombocytop
enia. Significant side-effects included moderate to severe emesis (41%
), mucositis (34%), diarrhoea (31%) and palmar-plantar syndrome (14%).
Seven patients (23%) had Hickman line complications requiring line re
moval. Continuous infusional chemotherapy with this regimen is active
in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, but its complexicity and assoc
iated treatment toxicity offer little advantage over equally active bu
t simpler and less toxic cisplatin-based regimens.