ABSTRACT
Twenty consecutive patients who had biopsy proven metastatic colorectal cancer were treated with combination chemotherapy. The drug regimen (FVH), in a 4 week cycle, consisted of 5-fluorouracil (600 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1, 8, 15 and 22), vincristine (1.4 mg/m2 i.v. on day 4), and hydroxyurea (2400 mg/m2 p.o. on days 3, 10, 17 and 24). Three of the 18 evaluable patients achieved an objective tumor remission (2 CR and 1 PR) and 15 patients had stable disease. The overall response rate to FVH was therefore not superior to that achieved in patients who received 5-fluorouracil alone, and the overall survival in this study was comparable to that of other studies involving patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/administration & dosage , Colonic Neoplasms/drug therapy , Rectal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Colonic Neoplasms/mortality , Female , Fluorouracil/therapeutic use , Humans , Hydroxyurea/administration & dosage , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Metastasis , Rectal Neoplasms/mortality , Vincristine/administration & dosageABSTRACT
A case of humoral non-parathyroid hypercalcemia in a breast cancer patient is discussed. Bone metastases developed 23 months after the first clinical evidence of increased serum calcium levels and did not appear to be etiologically involved in this case of hypercalcemia. Serum levels of I-PTH and PGE2 were normal, as were urinary c-AMP levels. Furthermore, no significant response to corticosteroid therapy was observed. However, the correlation between the activity of metastatic disease and calcemia suggests that this cancer produced humoral factor(s) with calcium-mobilizing activity.
