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Summary Fourteen patients with previously treated, locally advanced/metastatic transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder or ureter received paclitaxel at a dose of 200 mg m-2 administered as a 3-h infusion every 21 days. The activity of paclitaxel in this group of patients was modest. The response rates were one partial response (PR) (7%) and three stable disease (SD). There were two early deaths.

The polymerase chain reaction to detect bcl-2-IgH rearrangements is presently carried out with widely disparate results. Further effort is required to bring forward a standard PCR protocol which can be re-tested in different laboratories to improve accuracy and reproducibility. The application of quantitative techniques such as real-time PCR may resolve many of the problems presently encountered.

Summary The combination of high-dose folinic acid with 5-fluorouracil has shown improved response rates in several trials in advanced colorectal carcinoma. This however is at the expense of increased toxicity: regimens using weekly bolus injections produce diarrhoea in most patients and occasional toxic deaths from this, whilst those using daily injections for one week in four report both diarrhoea and severe oral mucositis. Both types of regimen have significant rates of myelosuppression.A recent report described a different schedule of 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid, which appeared better tolerated but equally active (De Gramont et al., 1988 al., 1989). These reports also describe toxicity different from that produced by 5-fluorouracil alone: Regimens using weekly bolus injections are reported as frequently causing diarrhoea (in 22-80% of patients) with occasional toxic deaths from this (Petrelli et al., 1988;Petrelli et al., 1989), whilst those employing daily injections for one week in four report both diarrhoea and oral mucositis -the latter in 40-80% of patients (Machover et al., 1986;Erlichman et al., 1988;Poon et al., 1989

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