Treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas with ifosfamide and doxorubicincombination chemotherapy

Our objective was to assess the efficacy of a standard dose ifosfamide and doxorubicin containing regimen in the treatment of advanced soft tissue sar comas. Forty consecutive patients with a median age of 35.5 years were trea ted. Ifosfamide was administered at a dose of 2.5 g/m(2)/day as 72-hour con tinuous infusion with mesna at the same dosage and schedule. Doxorubicin wa s given at the dose of 60 mg/m(2)/day as 2-hour infusion on day 1. Six pati ents had a complete response (15%), and 9 (22.5%) had a partial response, f ourteen patients (35%) stable disease, and 11 (27.5%) did not respond to ch emotherapy. The median duration of response was 13 and 5 months for the com plete and partial responders, respectively. The median survival was 37 mont hs. Febrile neutropenia was encountered in 9 cases (22.5%). The present ifo sfamide and doxorubicin combination is a moderately effective and well-tole rable regimen in the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas. J. Surg. O ncol. 2000;73:12-16. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.