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Amphotericin B (AmB)-5-fluorouracil (5-FU) combination therapy against cancer was evaluated when both were given orally. Seven gastric cancer patients were treated in this manner, and 4 gastric cancer patients treated with 5-FU alone to serve as the control. AmB syrup and 5-FU syrup were administered orally for 3 days before surgical operation. Then, the drugs were given through a gastric tube into the stomach 4 hr before the start of the gastric surgery. Lesion tissues and healthy tissues were collected from each patient and the 5-FU titers were measured by bioassay. It was shown in the majority of the gastric cancer cases that the 5-FU levels in the lesion tissues were substantially higher than those in the surrounding normal tissues, whereas in the gastric cancer patients who received 5-FU alone, most of the lesion tissues showed lower 5-FU content as compared with that of the surrounding tissues.-Amphotericin B syrup; 5-FU syrup; gastric cancer chemotherapy Amphotericin B (AmB) is a polyene antibiotic which increases cell membrane permeability.5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is an anticancer drug which belongs to pyrimidine antagonists. In this study, the combined effects of AmB syrup and 5-FU syrup were tested by measuring the concentration of 5-FU in the cancerous tissues of gastric cancer patients. Materials and methods. Seven gastric cancer patients were given 24 ml of AmB syrup (2,400 mg of AmB) with 50 ml of water and 300 mg of 5-FU syrup for 3 days before surgical operation.In addition, the same amounts of AmB syrup and 500 mg of 5-FU syrup with 50 ml of water were given through a gastric tube into the stomach 4 hr before the start of gastric surgery.Four gastric cancer patients were also treated with 5-FU alone in this manner.Immediately after the stomach was taken out, the stomach was gently washed twice with physiological saline solution.Then, the cancer lesion and surrounding normal tissues from each patient were promptly collected and stored at -20°C. Bioassays using Staphylococcus aureus 209P (Cylinder cup bioassay method) were performed to measure the titer of 5-FU present in each tissue.Results and discussion. As shown in Table 1, in 5 of the 7 cancer cases that received combination therapy, the ratio of the 5-FU content of the cancer tissue to that of the normal tissue surrounding the lesion was higher than the ratio obtained in 4 control cases.

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A 7-month-old infant with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary hypertension underwent pulmonary artery banding, which resulted in a decrease in the pulmonary arterial peak pressure from 102 to 54 mmHg. Lung biopsy findings showed at most an early grade 3 Heath-Edwards classification, and an index of pulmonary vascular disease of 1.4, both of which indicated operability for total correction. Small pulmonary arteries less than 100 microns in diameter, however, showed marked hydropic changes in the medial smooth muscle cells. Total correction was performed at the age of 2 years, but the pulmonary arterial pressure failed to decrease. A lung biopsy taken just after the closure of the ventricular septal defect contraindicated operability due to progressive pulmonary vascular disease at a grade 6 Heath-Edwards classification and an index of pulmonary vascular disease of 2.4. The patient died at 8 months after the operation, and an autopsy revealed still more advanced pulmonary vascular disease at a grade 6 Heath-Edwards classification and an index of pulmonary vascular disease of 2.8. The pathogenesis of arterial changes is discussed.