Combination chemotherapy including adriamycin for advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract

Thirty-three patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract (23 bladder cases, 8 ureter cases, and 2 renal pelvis cases) were treated by three-drug combination chemotherapy using two protocols (protocol I: Adriamycin 50 mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2, and 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m2, protocol II: Adriamycin 50 mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2, and cis-platinum 50 mg/m2). Protocol I induced responses in three of 19 patients (16%), (1 complete response, 2 partial responses), and protocol II (I complete response, 4 partial responses) in five of 14 patients (36%). The overall response rate was 24%. The duration of response was relatively short (median duration 5.1 months). The combination therapy was relatively well tolerated except in three patients, including two mortalities. In our study, three-drug combination chemotherapy with Adriamycin, especially that including cis-platinum, was effective against transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract, but the results were not completely satisfactory.