Combined cytostatic chemotherapy of advanced non-small-cell bronchial carcinoma with doxorubicin and ifosfamide

Fifty-three patients with inoperable non-small cell bronchial carcinoma were treated at four-weekly intervals with two cytostatic drugs, doxorubicin (50 mg/m2 on day 1) and ifosfamide (2000 mg/m2 on days 1-3). To avoid urotoxicity of ifosfamide, mesna, a uroprotective drug, was additionally given intravenously at a dose of three times 400 mg/m2 on days 1-3. All diagnoses had been histologically and/or cytologically confirmed. Adenocarcinoma was present in 22, large-cell undifferentiated carcinoma in 18, and squamous-cell carcinoma in 13. Distant metastases were present in 46, seven had a regionally localized tumour growth. There were one complete and 20 partial remissions (response rate 40%). Among a further 19 patients temporary growth arrest was registered. The remissions occurred in seven with adenocarcinoma, nine with large-cell carcinoma and five with squamous-cell carcinoma. Median remission was 8.3 months, mean survival time 10.5 months. Patients without response survived a mean of 5.5 months, patients with tumour progression for 1.3 months (Kaplan-Meier method). Most prominent among side-effects were cardiotoxicity and infection during the leukopenic phase. Urotoxicity was minor, due to treatment with mesna. The results suggest that doxorubicin and ifosfamide in combination can be considered an effective means, with acceptable toxicity, of treating advanced non-small cell bronchial carcinoma.