CONTINUOUS-INFUSION OF 5-FLUOROURACIL WITH ALPHA-2B INTERFERON FOR ADVANCED COLORECTAL-CARCINOMA

Thirty patients with symptomatic colorectal carcinoma were commenced o n treatment with 5-fluorouracil (2.5 g week(-1)) administered by conti nuous intravenous infusion and alpha 2b interferon (3 x 10(6) U s.c. t hree times a week). Six out of 30 patients (20%) achieved a partial re sponse. Three patients (10%) had stable disease and 21 patients (70%) progressed on treatment. Twenty patients (67%) completed ten or more w eeks of treatment. In nine patients, treatment was withdrawn after 2-9 weeks because of disease progression or death. One patient's treatmen t was interrupted by emergency surgery. The median survival for all pa tients was 210 days (7 months). The principal side-effects were oral m ucositis (12/30 patients), nausea (8/30 patients) and transient diarrh oea (4/30 patients), and initial constitutional symptoms due to alpha 2b interferon. The combination of low-dose continuous infusional 5-flu orouracil and low-dose alpha 2b interferon is well tolerated but has n o obvious advantage over alternative infusional regimens using 5-fluor ouracil as a single agent.