Chemotherapy in the last 30 days of life of advanced cancer patients.

Purpose: Chemotherapy near the end of life is an issue frequently discussed nowadays, but literature is generally poor. We analyzed patients with cancer who received chemotherapy in their last month of life.

Methods: The study involved all patients treated in our oncological department between 2010 and 2012; our attention focused on patients receiving chemotherapy in their last month of life.

Hepatic arterial chemotherapy with oxaliplatin, folinic acid and 5-fluorouracil in pre-treated patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer.

Background: Hepatic arterial chemotherapy (HAC) is an effective treatment of liver metastases from colorectal cancer (CRC). Phase I and II studies have already shown the feasibility and efficacy of intra-arterial oxaliplatin (OXA).

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one pre-treated patients with liver metastases who received HAC with OXA/folinic acid (FA)/5-fluorouracil (5-FU) at our Division between March 2000 and November 2003, were clinically examined.

Phase II study of hepatic intraarterial epirubicin and cisplatin, with systemic 5-fluorouracil in patients with unresectable biliary tract tumors.

Background: Patients with unresectable biliary tract carcinomas have a very poor prognosis. To improve the efficacy and tolerance of the ECF regimen (epirubicin at a dose of 50 mg/m2, cisplatin at a dose of 60 mg/m2, and 5-fluorouracil [5-FU] at a dose of 200 mg/m2 per day by continuous infusion), the authors designed a novel approach that combined locoregional and systemic chemotherapy with the same agents at the same dosages.

Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with advanced or metastatic biliary tumors were treated with epirubicin at a dose of 50 mg/m2 and cisplatin at a dose of 60 mg/m2 administered as a bolus in the hepatic artery on Day 1, combined with systemic continuous infusion of 5-FU at a dose of 200 mg/m2 per day, from Day 1 to Day 14, every 3 weeks.