[Therapeutic results and toxic side effects of the combination cytostasan, adriamycin and vincristine as second-line therapy of metastatic breast cancer].

Abstract

Remission rate of 30-50% can be obtained by different cytostatic combinations in second-line-therapy of the metastasized breast cancer. The combination of adriamycin and vincristine with cytostasan reveals a remission rate of 52% in 50 CMF-pretreated female patients. Considerable toxic side effects led to a dose reduction of cytostasan and adriamycin in 31 female patients without clinical efficiency loss. The long remission periods of the total responders (5+ -23 months) are remarkable. Both 3 female patients with bone +/- soft tissue metastasis and 3 female patients with visceral metastasis benefited from a clinical total remission. The remission rates indicated no significant differences between the group of patients with soft tissue +/- bone metastasis (56.3%) and that with a predominantly visceral metastasis (50.0%). The CyAV-combination with a low dose provides an effective therapeutical scheme with acceptable side effects for CMF-pretreated female patients with breast cancer.