5-fluorouracil with cytosine arabinoside in metastatic gastrointestinal cancer.
A 2-drug combination chemotherapy regimen of 5-fluorouracil (FU) and cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) was used in 23 patients with gastrointestinal cancer. The drugs were administered as a mixture by daily continuous infusion for 5 days at 4-wk intervals. Dosages for each drug were: FU, 1.1 gm/m2/day and ara-C, 50 mg/m2/day. The incidence of leukopenia (WBC, less than 3,500/mm3) was 36% and of thrombocytopenia (platelets, less than 125,000/mm3), 18% during 33 courses administered at full doses. No clinical antitumor effects were observed in 18 patients evaluable for therapeutic response. The addition of ara-C to a nonmyelosuppressive dose schedule of FU results in potentiated marrow suppression, and the antitumor effect for the combination is less than would have been predicted for either drug alone.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000139:chemically induced; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000139:chemically induced
D003561:Cytarabine; D005472:Fluorouracil