The results of radiotherapy alone for patients with locally advanced (stage III or IV) nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) are poor in spite of the initial complete clearance. Twenty-seven patients (26 stage IV) were treated with concurrent standard radiotherapy and cisplatin 100 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1 and every 3 weeks for three courses. In 24 (89%) patients, complete response (CR) was achieved. The CR rate was higher for poorly undifferentiated cancer (100%). The major side effects were leukopenia (97%), anemia (54%), nausea and vomiting (81%), stomatitis (92%), and renal impairment (52%). Most of these side effects were either mild or moderate and reversible. All patients finished the radiotherapy dose (greater than 6,450 cGy), 19 (70%) had three courses of cisplatin, and eight had only two courses, six due to drug toxicity. Twenty-six patients with stage IV disease were compared with 78 patients treated with radiotherapy alone by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). The disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival, and the incidence of distant organ metastasis appear to be better in the combined group. It was concluded that the combination of chemo-radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced NPC needs to be evaluated in a phase III randomized trial.
Thirty-two evaluable good risk patients with multiple myeloma received a 70-day tapering course of prednisone beginning at a dose of 1.2 mg/kg/day. Forty-four percent of the patients demonstrated objective evidence of response to this treatment. Although the median time to disease progression for the prednisone-treated group was shorter than for patients randomized to receive prednisone with alkylating agents or who were treated with alkylating agent alone, the results from this trial indicate that prednisone, by itself, may produce objective responses. Caution must be used interpreting trials of new agents in myeloma when such treatments are combined with corticosteroid administration.
A 34% response was obtained in 202 evaluable patients in the terminal phase of chronic granulocytic leukemia using combinations of hydroxyurea, 6-mercaptopurine, and corticosteroids. Twelve percent of responses were complete and 22% partial. Overall median survival was 12 wk. A 30 wk median survival for responding patients was statistically superior to the 7-wk survival for nonresponders (p less than 0.001). Response was inversely correlated with toxicity. No responses were obtained in patients sustaining both severe infectious and bleeding complications. No benefit could be demonstrated from the addition of vincristine in induction and daunorubicin for consolidation. Although the response frequency and duration of survival with this combination chemotherapy were generally superior to those previously reported by our group, the terminal phase of chronic granulocytic leukemia still remains a formidable and generally refractory disease.
Two hundred fifty-two previously untreated evaluable patients with multiple myeloma were entered into a study testing a regimen of three intravenous alkylating agents, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, and carmustine (BCNU), given in combination (BCMP) against a regimen employing oral melphalan (MP). Both regimens included a tapering course of prednisone. Objective responses based on the Myeloma Task Force criteria were significantly more frequent in the group receiving BCMP. Survival for the entire group of BCMP-treated patients was not significantly better than that for MP-treated patients (p = 0.62). However, when the survival of the poor-risk (high tumor cell load) group of patients treated with BCMP was compared with the survival of the poor-risk (high tumor cell load) group of patients treated with MP, an improvement in survival attributable to BCMP therapy was seen (p = 0.049 and 0.02, respectively). In the good-risk (low and intermediate tumor cell load) group, BCMP treatment resulted in a trend toward poorer survival, but this did not achieve statistical significance (p = 0.080 and 0.23, respectively). These results indicate that optimal therapy in myeloma may be dependent on the extent of disease at the time of first treatment. Additional studies to explore the effects of treatment intensity and duration are needed in order to design improved myeloma treatment based on the patient's extent of disease.
A group of 72 patients who had received radiotherapy between 1972 and 1980 for isolated local-regional recurrence of breast cancer was studied; 38 had received adjuvant chemotherapy and 34 had not. The two groups were comparable except for the initial nodal status and median time from mastectomy to recurrence. Outcome was not significantly different for the two groups in terms of response to radiotherapy, incidence of re-recurrence, distant metastases, and three-year survival. The length of the disease-free interval and the response to radiotherapy were the only factors studied that were significantly related to survival.
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