Low dose adriamycin and ifosfamide in the treatment of advanced adult softtissue sarcomas

Background. Soft tissue sarcomas ave infrequent tumors (up to 1% of all neo plasms) in adult patients. Treatment of advanced disease is largely unsatis factory. Only a few drugs are active agents and combination regimens offer limited and short-lived activity. High dose chemotherapy may be administere d only to limited groups of patients. Patients and Methods. We evaluated, i n a phase II study, the adriamycin and ifosfamide combination regimen. The drugs were administered at 60 mg/sqm and 6 g/sqm dosage, respectively. The total number of treated patients was 42 of which 40 were evaluable. Results . We observed 6 complete responses (14% response rate) and 6 partial respon ses (14%). The mean survival was 6 months (median 7.6 months). Toxicity was limited and reversible. Conclusion. While high dose chemotherapy may be re served for selected groups of patients, an adriamycin and ifosfamide combin ation regimen at conventional doses can be administered to the great majori ty of patients with suboptimal performance status or with advanced age.