HIGH-DOSE-INTENSITY COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY FOR ADVANCED SARCOMAS - A PILOT-STUDY

A new polychemotherapy schedule involving high dose intensity and shor tened intervals has been developed for patients with advanced sarcomas . Mesna at 2500 mg/m(2) for 3 days, epidoxorubicin at 60 mg/m(2) on da y 1, ifosfamide at 2500 mg/m(2) for 3 days, and dacarbazine at 450 mg/ m(2) for 2 days were given every 2 weeks to a consecutive series of 20 patients. All patients received granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF; Filgrastim) subcutaneously at 300 mu g from day 5 to day 12 o f each cycle. The treatment was feasible and toxicity was acceptable, with grade IV myelotoxicity being observed only in one case. In all, 6 of 14 evaluable patients had an objective response: the median surviv al was 12 months. Toxicity was milder than that observed for the class ic combination MAID, and the planned dose intensity was maintained in the majority of cases.