Effect of Epirubicin, Cisplatin, oral UFT, and Leucovorin Combination Chemotherapy in Advanced Stomach Cancer

Yoon, So Young; Seo, Jae Hong; Choi, Chul Won; Kim, Byung Soo; Mok, Young Jae; Kim, Chong Suk; Chun, Hoon Jai; Hyun, Jin Hai; Kim, Yeul Hong; Kim, Jun Suk

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
UFT plus leucovorin treatment had favorable activity and tolerable toxicity in patients with advanced stomach cancer. Recently, high response rates have been reported in patients with advanced stomach cancer with a schedule of epirubicin, cisplatin, and protracted infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The advantage of long term oral administration of UFT is that this treatment might be used to mimic protracted infusions of 5-FU. Instead of inconvenience of infusion pump and intravenous catheter for protracted infusion of 5-FU, we administered UFT plus leucovorin in this treatment.
METHODS
Thirty-seven patients with locally advanced or metastatic stomach cancer received epirubicin, cisplatin, oral UFT plus leucovorin. Epirubicin 50 mg/m2 and cisplatin 60 mg/m2 were administered on day 1 by intravenous injection. UFT 360 mg/m2/day in conjunction with leucovorin administered at 25 mg/m2/day per os in divided daily doses for 21 days followed by a 7-day rest period. Courses were repeated every 4 weeks. The median age of the patients was 55 years with a median World Health Organization (WHO) performance status of 1. Patients received a median of four courses of treatment (range, 2 to 10).
RESULTS
Among 37 evaluable patients, two patients achieved complete response, and eighteen had partial responses, for an overall response rate of 54% (95% confidence interval; 39% to 70%). Stable disease was reported in 12 patients (32.5%) and another 5 (13.5%) showed disease progression. The median duration of survival was 10 months (range, 2 to 15+). The main toxicity was nausea/vomiting, leukopenia, diarrhea and oral mucositis. Significant toxicity (WHO grade 3 or 4) included leukopenia in fourteen patients (39.8%), nausea/ vomiting in eleven (29.7%), oral mucositis in five (13.5%), and diarrhea in four (10.8%) patients.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that epirubicin, cisplatin, oral UFT plus leucovorin, a convenient out-patient regimen, has a significant activity in patients with stomach cancer and has tolerable toxicities.