CISPLATINUM, FLUOROURACIL, AND FOLINIC ACID COMBINATION THERAPY FOR THE METASTATIC BREAST CANCER

Twenty-one heavily pretreated antracycline resistant metastatic breast cancer patients were treated with cisplatinum 75 mg/ spm/infusion on day one, folinic acid 100 mg/ spm, fluorouracil 600 mg/ spm/IV on days one and two every 4 weeks. Patient characteristics were median age; 55 (25-64), menopausal status; 14 post-6 pre-1 perimenapausal. The metastatic sites were: 6/21 liver, 8/21 bone, 11/21 lung/pleura, 1/21 brain, 2/21 soft tissue/skip. Because 2 patients with grade III emesis could not tolerate chemotherapy after the first cycle 19 patients were evaluated for response. Three patients (16%) achieved partial response, 10 (53%) had stable disease and 6 (31 %) progressive disease. The patients received a total of 83 cycles of chemotherapy. Major acute toxicity was grade (gr) 3 emesis (5/83) 6%, the others were; gr II emesis 50/83 (60%), gr II leukopenia 5/83 (11%), gr III anemia 1/83 (1%), gr II anemia 3/83 (4%), gr II nefrotoxicity 1/83 (1%). Although this combination regimen was tolerable, it did not seem to be effective in antracycline-resistant breast cancer.