Clinical experience with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and high-dose folinic acid in solid tumors

This paper reports experience with high-dose folinic acid (HDFA) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the treatment of 130 patients with various types of tumor. While the objective results obtained from gastrointestinal malignancies (response rate = 15%) are no better than those usually gained by 5-FU alone, impressive results were achieved in patients with advanced and mainly pretreated breast cancer (response rate = 44%). Haematological toxicity was generally mild, while oral mucositis, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis were major side effects. Our data suggest that HDFA and 5-FU seem a very promising combination and warrant further investigation.