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Bis chloroethyl nitrosourea, vincristine, dimethyl triazeno imidazole carboxamide and chlorpromazine combination chemotherapy in disseminated malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
McKelvey Eugene M.,
Luce James K.,
Vaitkevicius V. K.,
Talley Robert W.,
Bodey Gerald P.,
Lane Montague,
Moon Thomas E.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197701)39:1<5::aid-cncr2820390103>3.0.co;2-c
Subject(s) - medicine , chemotherapy , vincristine , gastroenterology , chlorpromazine , nitrosourea , melanoma , lymphocyte , combination chemotherapy , surgery , cyclophosphamide , cancer research
One hundred twenty‐one patients with disseminated malignant melanoma were treated with BCNU, vincristine, DTIC, and chlorpromazine (BVD). A response rate of 22% was observed; 28% of the patients had stable disease and 50% had increasing disease. Similar response rates were obtained with both the high dose and low dose treatment schedules. Patients who exhibited some degree of improvement during their initial course of treatment had the highest overall response rate (72%) to BVD chemotherapy. The median survival from onset of therapy was six months for all patients and 18 months for patients who responded to chemotherapy. The median duration of response was 9.9 months. Thus, the addition of chlorpromazine to BVD chemotherapy did not increase tumor response, and the overall results obtained were comparable to DTIC alone. Patients were found to be lymphopenic prior to the onset of therapy. Their median absolute lymphocyte count was 1800/mm 3 . Those patients with absolute lymphocyte counts above the 2710/mm 3 normal mean had significantly higher response rates (35% vs. 19%, P < .05) and longer survivals (9.8 months vs. 4.3 months, P < .05) than patients with lower initial lymphocyte levels. Pretreatment eosinophil and monocyte counts were not closely correlated with patient response or survival.