title: Oral etoposide as first-line therapy in the treatment of patients with advanced classic Kaposi's sarcoma (CKS): a single-arm trial (oral etoposide in CKS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Classic Kaposi's sarcoma (CKS) affects an elderly population; it is important to have effective treatment options with high activity and relatively low toxicity, and availability to be used for long periods.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the activity and safety of single-agent etoposide with an oral administration schedule in patients with advanced CKS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Histologically confirmed, CKS patients were eligible for study. All had a negative test for HIV and good performance status. All patients received oral etoposide 50 mg twice daily for 10 days every 3 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty patients (median age 66 and 22 males) were enrolled into the study. The majority of them had non-metastatic, local advanced disease and symptoms in nearly half of patients. Complete and partial responses were observed in 10% and 77% of patients, respectively, giving an overall response rate of 87%. Stable disease occurred in the other 13% of patients. Treatment was well tolerated. Grade IV toxicity was not observed. Haematological toxicity was the principal dose-limiting side effect. Severe leucopaenia and neutropaenia were observed in 7% and 10% of patients respectively. No patient was complicated by febrile neutropaenia. Mild-moderate anaemia observed frequently, but only 3% of patients had severe anaemia and severe thrombocytopaenia was not observed. The 5-year overall survival rate was 92%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Single-agent oral etoposide is an effective treatment option and is acceptably toxic and easily administered. Therefore, we recommend the single agent of oral etoposide as the first-line chemotherapy for advanced CKS.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oncology, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. faruktas2002@yahoo.com
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tas
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kilic
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D005047:Etoposide