Treatment of persistent or recurrent ovarian carcinoma with sequential methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil

Seventeen patients with persistent or recurrent epithelial cancer of the ovary were treated sequentially with methotrexate 125 mg/m2 or 250 mg/m2 iv followed in 1 hr with 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m2 iv and in 24 hr with leucovorin rescue factor 10 mg/m2 q 6 hr for 6 doses every 14 days. Sixteen patients had Stage III or IV disease; one patient had Stage IIB disease. There were no complete or partial responders; nine patients had stabilization of disease for at least 1 month and three for greater than 4 months. There was minimal toxicity in the 89 courses given, with 8.9% neutropenia (less than 3000/mm3) and 2.2% thrombocytopenia (less than 100,000/mm3). Two patients developed severe diarrhea; there were no cases of mucositis.