[Effects of combination chemotherapy M-VEMFH including mitoxantrone in advanced breast cancer]

The effects of combination chemotherapy including mitoxantrone (MXN) "M-VEMFH" for advanced breast cancer were studied. The M-VEMFH regimen consisted of MXN 7 mg/m2, VCR 0.7 mg/m2, EX 333 mg/m2, MTX 13.3 mg/m2 i.v. on day 1, 5-FU 333 mg/m2 i.v. from day 1 to day 5 and pred. (H) 60 mg/m2 p.o. with tapering off in 2 weeks. In 7 cases heavily pretreated with combination chemotherapy including ADR, CR 2, PR 2, NC 2 and PD 1 were observed (response rate 57.1%). In 5 cases without prior ADR, PR 1, NC 2 and PD 2 were obtained. One case given 586 mg/m2 of prior ADR died of congestive heart failure after administration of 47 mg/m2 of NXN. One case died of sepsis. The other side effects were stomatitis, vulvitis, abnormal gustation, nausea, vomiting and alopecia. M-VEMFH is effective combination chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer resistant to ADR, but care must be exerted due to the accompanying cardiotoxicity and leukopenia.