[A comparative clinical trial with tegafur plus lentinan treatment at two different doses in advanced cancer]

In order to evaluate the clinical efficacy of combined tegafur plus lentinan treatment, a comparative trial was performed on patients with advanced cancer using two different doses, a conventional-dose group and a high-dose group. Thirty-four patients were evaluable in this trial. The doses of medication were 600 mg of tegafur p.o. daily and 1-2 mg of lentinan i.v. weekly in the conventional-dose group, and 1,200-800 mg of tegafur p.o. daily and 4 mg of lentinan i.v. weekly in the high-dose group. The response was evaluated using the criteria of Koyama. The response rates were 14.3% for the conventional-dose group and 25.0% for the high-dose group, although no statistical difference was observed. Acute toxicities such as oppression in the anterior chest and dryness of the throat, which were considered to be probably due to lentinan, were noted in patients given rapid administration with 20 ml of solution. However, these effects disappeared with slow-drip infusion using 100-200 ml of solution. These results suggest that the combined tegafur plus lentinan treatment would be better administered at a dose higher than the conventional one for the treatment for advanced cancers.