Adriamycin (NSC-123127) therapy for advanced gastrointestinal cancer

Sixty-nine patients with advanced gastrointestinal carcinomas were given adriamycin intravenously at a dose level of 40-75 mg/m once every 3 weeks. Toxic effects included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomatitis, alopecia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and minor ECG changes. There was a slight trend toward move severe leukopenia in patients with markedly abnormal liver function test (serum glutamic oxaloacteic transaminase and alkaline phosphatase). Of the 57 pateints with colorectal cancer treated with adriamycin, four (7%) showed partial objective responses. In a controlled comparison of adriamycin versus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in patients with previously untreated large bowel carcinoma, three of 23 patients (13%) receiving adriamycin showed partial objective responses as compared with six of 25 patients (24%) receiving 5-FU. The median duration of response with adriamycin was 3 months com pared to over 6 months with 5-FU. Four of eight patients with gastric carcinoma showed partial objective responses. No responses were noted in a small number of patients with pancreatic and gallbladder carcinomas. Adriamycin would not seem to have any role in the treatment of advanced colorectal carcinoma. Our results, however, would justify further evaluation of this agent in gastric carcinoma.