Human leukocyte interferon alpha (HLI-alpha) for treatment of pleural effusion caused by non small cell lung cancer. A pilot study.
Fourteen patients with ipsilateral pleural effusion from non small cell cancer of the lung, 10 of them with generalized metastasis, were treated with local application of HLI-alpha in addition to other symptomatic treatment. Cytology of pleural fluid at the beginning of treatment yielded cancer cells in all but one. HLI-alpha, 2 x 10(6) International Units (I.U.) diluted in 20 ml of distilled water was injected intrapleurally each time. The mean survival of the HLI-alpha treated patients, measured from the first treatment of the pleural effusion, was 10.8 months. The performance status improved in 9 patients following HLI-alpha treatment. The pleural effusion eventually ceased accumulating in all patients. To judge from cytology of tapped pleural fluid, the cancer cells disappeared during treatment with HLI-alpha in 11 patients.
Tercelj-Zorman
M
M
Institute for Lung Disease, Golnik, Yugoslavia.
Mermolja
M
M
Jereb
M
M
Oman
M
M
Soos
E
E
Petric-Grabnar
G
G
Jereb
B
B
D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*
D016898:Interferon-alpha