Anti-beta HCG abdominopelvic immunoscintigraphy in patients with resistant gestational trophoblastic disease.

The clinical utility of abdominopelvic immunoscintigraphy (IS) using anti-beta HCG-labelled monoclonal antibodies was evaluated in six patients with resistant gestational trophoblastic disease and no common pathological site. Five patients with abnormal retrovesical uptake had persistence of uterine trophoblastic disease confirmed on hysterectomy. Four of these patients are now in remission.

Fotemustine plus dacarbazine for malignant melanoma.

119 patients with metastatic melanoma received fotemustine 100 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 and dacarbazine 250 mg/m2 on days 15-18. After a 5-week rest, fotemustine 100 mg/m2 on day 1 and dacarbazine 250 mg/m2 on days 2-5 was given every 3-4 weeks. 12 complete responses (11.

Reproducibility of image interpretation in immunoscintigraphy performed with indium-111- and iodine-131-labeled OC125 F(ab')2 antibody injected into the same patients.

An important criterion for the clinical use of a new imaging technique is the correct reproducibility of interpretation. Forty-six paired immunoscintigraphic examinations were performed on 43 patients with suspected ovarian carcinoma recurrence using F(ab')2 fragments of OC125 antibody labeled first with indium-111 and then with iodine-131. Planar scintigraphy (PS) and emission computed tomography (ECT) images were interpreted blindly and separately by three observers, and reproducibility was evaluated by a kappa concordance index.

Final report of the French multicenter phase II study of the nitrosourea fotemustine in 153 evaluable patients with disseminated malignant melanoma including patients with cerebral metastases.

One hundred sixty-nine patients with histologic evidence of disseminated malignant melanoma, including patients with cerebral metastases, were entered into a Phase II study of the nitrosourea fotemustine. The treatment regimen consisted of a 100 mg/m2 1 hour IV infusion every week for 3 consecutive weeks, followed by a 4- to 5-week rest period (induction therapy). In responding or stabilized patients, maintenance therapy consisted of 100 mg/m2 every 3 weeks until the disease progressed.

Chemotherapy by fotemustine in cerebral metastases of disseminated malignant melanoma.

A total of 42 patients with cerebral metastases of malignant melanoma were included in this study of the nitrosourea fotemustine. The treatment plan consisted of a l-h i.v.

Association of bolus tetrahydropyranyl adriamycin and 120 hours continuous 5-fluorouracil infusion in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

4'-O-Tetrahydropyranyl adriamycin (THP adriamycin) is a new anthracycline active as a single drug in advanced breast cancer. We have undertaken a phase II study as first-line treatment for metastatic disease with THP adriamycin day 1 = 40 mg/m2 i.v.

[Phase II trial as 2nd line chemotherapy with 5 fluorouracil and cisplatin (5FU-CDDP) for advanced breast cancer].

Thirty patients with advanced breast cancer, previously treated with anthracycline and 5 fluorouracil in bolus administration, were evaluated with a chemotherapy regimen generally used in head and neck cancer. Treatment schedule consisted of: cisplatin 100 mg/m2 on d 1 and 5 fluorouracil 1000 mg/m2 continuous infusion on d 2-3-4-5 every 21 d. With all measurable lesions and 27 evaluable patients, the response rate was 29% (95% confidence interval: 12-47%), with 5 complete responses (3 soft tissue - 2 lung) and 3 partial responses (1 lung - 2 liver).

Pirarubicin in advanced breast cancer: a French cooperative phase II study.

79 patients with advanced breast cancer were given Pirarubicin 20-25 mg/m2 during 3 consecutive days every 3 or 4 weeks. 78 were evaluable for response (41 without previous chemotherapy and 37 with only one previous regimen). The overall response rate was 35% (95% CI 24-45) and the complete response rate was 8%.

Biodistribution of indium-111-labeled OC 125 monoclonal antibody intraperitoneally injected into patients operated on for ovarian carcinomas.

The biodistribution of 111In-labeled monoclonal antibody (MAb) OC 125 was studied after i.p. injection in 28 patients who underwent surgery for ovarian carcinoma.

Immunoscintigraphy of recurrences of gynecologic carcinomas.

In a first, retrospective study, 15 patients with known ovarian carcinoma were injected with 131I-OC 125 F(ab')2 monoclonal antibody (MAb). The sensitivity of immunoscintigraphy based on the number of the tumor sites was 67% (12/18). In a second, prospective study, 29 patients with gynecologic carcinoma were injected with 131I-OC 125 F(ab')2 (24) or 131I-19-9 F(ab')2 (5) MAbs according to the histologic type.

Phase II clinical evaluation of doxifluridine.

Disease-oriented phase II trials of doxifluridine were performed in advanced colorectal, breast, renal, endometrial, stomach, and ovarian carcinomas. The dose schedule recommended by the phase I trial (12.5 g/m2 by continuous iv infusion over 6 hours once a week for 3 weeks followed by a 1-week rest) was chosen first: the initial dose was later decreased to 10 g/m2 due to the fact that several neurotoxic effects were reported.

Adriamycin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil (AVCF) compared with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) in premenopausal breast carcinoma. Personal results.

Adjuvant treatment of breast cancer with AVCF gave significantly longer disease-free survival than CMF in the group of patients taken as a whole, in the subgroup with lymph node involvement and in the premenopausal subgroup. No significant difference was found regarding overall survival.

Complementary roles of immunoscintigraphy and ultrasonography.

A female patient raised the problem of detection of a primary tumor after discovery of multiple nodular, apparently metastatic, lung densifications. Immunoscintigraphy using an anti-CEA antibody revealed two hot spots above and to the right of the urinary bladder. Ultrasonography showed a right ovarian cyst and normal echo texture for the uterus.

Immunoscintigraphy of colon carcinoma.

Two I-131 labeled monoclonal antibodies that react specifically with human gastrointestinal cancers in cell cultures were administered to 90 cancer patients for the scintigraphic detection of cancer sites. Antibody 17-1A, or its F(ab')2 fragments, accumulated significantly in 27 of 46 (59%) colorectal cancer sites, but not in 21 nonepitheliomatous colon cancers and cancers at other sites. Antibody 19-9, or its F(ab')2 fragments, showed significant accumulation in 19 out of 29 (66%) colorectal cancer sites.

Radioimmunoassay of the CA 12 5 antigen in ovarian carcinomas: advantages compared with CA 19-9 and CEA.

Antigen CA 12 5, associated with ovarian carcinomas, was assayed in the serum by an immunoradiometric method using monoclonal antibody OC 125. In a control group of 67 women in apparent good health, CA 12 5 serum levels in 64 cases (96%) were lower than 35 U/ml, the value arbitrarily considered as the upper normal limit. Using this limit, in benign lesions excluding cirrhosis, 19% (5/27) had raised levels.

[Endomyocardial biopsy as a method of surveilling adriamycin cardiac toxicity. 28 biopsies in 26 patients].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of endomyocardial biopsy in the surveillance of toxic, latent cardiomyopathy secondary to adriamycin (ADM) therapy, and to assess its value by comparison with non-invasive investigations such as echocardiography. Twenty six patients underwent endomyocardial biopsy and echocardiographic measurement of the fractional shortening of the left ventricular internal diameter after a total dose of 150 to 520 mg/m2 of ADM. Interstitial fibrosis was observed in 8 of the 20 interpretable cases on light microscopy (6 moderate, 2 severe).

[Comparison of the cardiotoxicity of adriamycin and aclacinomycin A in the rat. Optical and electron microscopic study].

Adriamycin (ADM) is a very effective antimitotic agent but its use is limited by its cardiotoxicity. New anthracycline drugs such as aclacinomycin A (ACMA) have been developed and have to be compared with ADM after chronic experimental intoxication. Three groups of randomised rats were compared: the ADM group receiving 2 mg/kg/week X 13 by intraperitoneal injection; the ACMA group receiving 4 mg/kg/week X 13 and a control group: 7 rats.

[Use of radio-labelled monoclonal antibodies for the scintigraphic detection of human colorectal cancers].

Two monoclonal antibodies, 17-1A and 19-9, which recognized human gastrointestinal cancers in cell cultures, were labeled with iodine 131 for immunoscintigraphic application. With the intact 131I-17-1A antibody, 21 out of 35 (60%) primary or secondary colorectal cancer sites were visualized, whereas all 21 nonepitheliomatous colic cancer sites or noncolic cancer sites were negative. With F(ab')2 fragments of the 19-9 antibody, 18 out of 27 (67%) colorectal cancer sites were positive.