[Combination chemotherapy of UFT with adriamycin in advanced gastrointestinal cancer]

Seventeen patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer were treated with a combined chemotherapy of UFT with Adriamycin (UFT-A). The UFT-A regimen consisted of UFT, 600 mg/body daily. As for the Adriamycin, 10 mg/body was give intravenously from day 1-4 and was repeated every two weeks. Partial responses were seen in 7 cases (41%) (5 cases of gastric cancer, 1 case of colon cancer, and 1 case of bile-duct cancer) out of 17 evaluable patients (7 cases of gastric cancer, 3 cases of colon cancer, 4 cases of biliary tract cancer, and 3 cases of pancreatic cancer). Two patients had minor responses, and in eight patients their disease had stabilized. As for side effects, nausea and vomiting occurred in seven patients (41%), and anorexia was observed in eight patients (47%). Two patients (12%) showed a leukopenia count of less than 2,000/mm3 and none of these seventeen patients had thrombocytopenia, of less than 5 x 10(4)/mm3. Considering these results, UFT-A therapy appears to be useful in cases of advanced gastrointestinal cancer, especially gastric cancer.