Efficacy and Toxicity of Gemcitabine Based Chemotherapy for Advanced Urothelial Cancer / 대한비뇨기과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the response and toxicity of gemcitabine and cisplatin combination chemotherapy in advanced transitional cell carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty two patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma received gemcitabine combined chemotherapy. Nineteen of them were scheduled to receive 1,000mg/m2 gemcitabine intravenously for 30 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15 and 70mg/m2 cisplatin for 1 hour on day 1 of a 28-day cycle. In addition, 3 patients with decreased renal function were scheduled to receive 1,200mg/m2 gemcitabine on day 1, 8, and 15. The toxicity of each cycle and the response after more than 4 cycles were evaluated. RESULTS: There were 5 complete responses and 4 partial responses in the 15 assessable patients, giving an overall response rate 60%. The toxicity was primarily hematologic, with 3 out of 22 patients (14%) with grade 3 thrombocytopenia, 10 out of 22 patients (45%) with grade 1 & 2 leukopenia and 10 out of 22 patients (45%) having grade 1 & 2 anemia. The most common non-hematologic toxic response was nausea and vomiting. CONCLUSIONS: Gemcitabine based chemotherapy for advanced transitional cell carcinoma has larger response rate compared to M-VAC. Furthermore, it has much less systemic toxicity than M-VAC combination chemotherapy.