title: Local hyperthermia, radiation, and chemotherapy in locally advanced malignancies.
abstract: Tumor size is a significant prognostic variable for attaining complete regression (CR) with local hyperthermia (HT) and radiation therapy (RT). The addition of weekly chemotherapy was evaluated to improve the efficacy of thermoradiotherapy in poor-prognosis lesions (i.e. > or = 7 cm2 or > or = 14 cm3) which have an expected CR rate of approximately 30 +/- 8%. Patients were entered into a two-arm phase-II study: arm 1 = breast cancer (10 patients), ifosfamide (1.5 g/m2) + epirubicin (20 mg/m2) + HT + RT; arm 2 = sarcoma (7 patients) and head and neck cancer (9 patients), cisplatin (40 mg/m2) + HT + RT. Therapy encompassing 106 triple-modality sessions was generally well tolerated for both arms; 2 instances of grade-3 and 1 of grade-4 (arm 2) local toxicity (WHO criteria) were observed. There were 4 instances of grade-3 myelosuppression (arm 1). The CR rates for arms 1 and 2 were 70 and 19%, respectively, suggesting that the combination of ifosfamide/epirubicin/HT/RT deserves further investigation in the context of localized breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Feyerabend
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Steeves
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Wiedemann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Robins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D015251:Epirubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D007069:Ifosfamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015251:Epirubicin; D002945:Cisplatin; D007069:Ifosfamide