[Combination therapy with adriamycin, cisplatin and vindesine in C cell carcinoma of the thyroid]

Ten patients with advanced medullary thyroid carcinoma were treated with the combination of adriamycin (50 mg/m2), cisplatin (60 mg/m2) and vindesine (3 mg/m2). Only one partial remission (PR) was seen. There were six "no changes" and three "progressive diseases (PD)". Comparing with data from the literature the polychemotherapy of adriamycin, cisplatin and vindesine seems not to be superior to the mostly employed adriamycin-monotherapy. The tumor-markers calcitonin (CT) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were pathologically elevated in any case. During chemotherapy they proved to be valuable parameters of the course of the disease. In the patient with PR the CT- and CEA-serum levels reflected the clinical remission. In the patients with PD, however, they rose continuously.