Modern problems of clinical chemotherapy of malignant tumours

The paper reports on a trial in which nitrosomethylurea (NMU) was compared with CCNU both in combination with vincristine and dactinomycin or the same combination with DTIC in the treatment of disseminated skin melanoma. The long-term results were statistically better in the groups with NMU than in that with CCNU while there was no statistical difference regarding the complete regression. A second trial compared NMU with CCNU in the treatment of small cell carcinoma in a regimen of combined chemo-radiotherapy. No statistical difference was to be noticed in regard to objective response and median live duration. In comparison with regimens including adriamycin the study showed an equal effectiveness of the two drugs. A third part deals with carminomycin therapy in metastatic soft tissue sarcomas and with the preventive role of postoperative 5-fluorouracil in gastric carcinoma and colo-rectal cancer.