Clinical trials with adriamycin

Adriamycin was given to 67 patients with a variety of tumors. The tolerated dose was 20–30 mg/m2/day IV daily for 3 days or 18 mg/m2/day IV daily for 5 days every 3 weeks. Objective responses were seen in transitional cell carcinoma (4/7), liposarcoma (2/2), squamous cell carcinoma (1/9), and adenocarcinoma of the breast (1/1). No responses were seen in other soft tissue sarcomas (10), malignant melanoma (4), acute leukemia (4), lymphoepithelioma (1), or tumors of the gastrointestinal organs (5), thyroid (2), kidney (4), and testis (2). At low doses, nausea and vomiting, phlebitis, and alopecia appeared. At higher doses, mucositis and myelosuppression seem related to the dose of each course, while EKG changes (4 cases) and congestive heart failure (6 cases) appear related to the cumulative dose. EKG changes, consisting of premature ventricular contractions and ST‐T wave changes, appeared to be related to adriamycin in 3 cases. The CHF appeared related in 3 cases. Adriamycin appears to be promising in several tumors, but maintenance therapy may be precluded by cumulative toxicity.