COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY OF 5-FLUOROURACIL, EPIDOXORUBICIN AND MITOMYCIN-C IN THE PALLIATIVE TREATMENT OF LOCALLY ADVANCED AND OR METASTATIC ADENOCARCINOMA OF THE STOMACH

Thirty-seven consecutive patients with advanced and/or metastatic gast ric adenocarcinoma received a combination of 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 29, 36; epidoxorubicin 75 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1, 29; mito mycin C 10 mg/m2 i.v. on day 1. This cycle was repeated every 8 weeks. Out of a total of 34 evaluable patients, 2 (5.8%) had a complete resp onse and 7 (20.6%) had a partial response with an overall median durat ion of 40 weeks (range 20-128). The median survival of responding pati ents was not reached after a mean follow-up of 76 weeks, while that of patients with no change and progressive disease was reached at 36 and 13 weeks respectively. Treatment was generally well tolerated with he matological and gastrointestinal toxicities being the major side-effec ts. Despite the use of epidoxorubicin 75 mg/m2, the 26.4% (95% confide nce limits 16-36%) objective response rate is not satisfactory. Evalua tion of more aggressive protocols is strongly recommended within the l imits of controlled trials.