Combination chemotherapy for advanced bilharzial bladder carcinoma.

Background: Carcinoma of the bilharzial bladder, the most common cancer in Egyptian patients has been, until recently, largely treated by surgery. We have studied the activity of a series of single agents in phase II trials and identified a number of active agents. Here we report the results of a trial in which therapeutic combinations of the most active agents were administered in alternating cycles to patients who had never received chemotherapy.

Use of ifosfamide in the management of breast cancer.

Ifosfamide, a cytostatic drug highly active in vivo, has slight superiority over cyclophosphamide. It proved effective in experimental tumor systems including the C3H mammary carcinoma. Clinical studies of ifosfamide as monotherapy in breast cancer, begun in 1974 by Ahmann et al.

Prolonged disease-free survival in pediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma using ifosfamide-containing combination chemotherapy.

Pediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) constitutes 16 per cent of pediatric malignancies reported to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Cairo. The adopted treatment for these cases was, from 1982 to July 1985, a modified St Jude's regimen consisting of: vincristine, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, prednisone and intrathecal methotrexate for the first 6 weeks for induction, followed by cranial irradiation for cranial prophylaxis. Patients in remission received maintenance therapy for 18 months.

A randomized pilot study of high-dose epirubicin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer of the bilharzial bladder.

Seventy-one patients with T2 and T3 bladder cancer were randomized to receive either two courses of epirubicin 120 mg/m2 i.v. push every 21 days pre-operatively, and four additional courses post-operatively (group I = 34 patients), or radical surgery (group II = 37 patients).

Ifosfamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil: effective combination in resistant breast cancer.

Ifosfamide has definite efficacy in many malignant tumours, including breast cancer. In the present study we substituted cyclophosphamide with ifosfamide in the combination CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil) regimen in 25 patients with breast cancer whose disease was refractory to CMF or who had relapsed after previous response. Ifosfamide was given in an i.

Adjuvant CMFVP versus melphalan for operable breast cancer with positive axillary nodes: 10-year results of a Southwest Oncology Group Study.

Four hundred forty-one women with operable breast cancer with histologically positive axillary nodes were randomized to receive either combination cyclophosphamide (60 mg/m2 orally everyday for 1 year); fluorouracil (300 mg/m2 intravenously [IV] weekly for 1 year); methotrexate (15 mg/m2 IV weekly for 1 year); vincristine (0.625 mg/m2 IV for 10 weeks); prednisone (30 mg/m2 orally days 1 to 14, 20 mg/m2 days 15 to 28, 10 mg/m2 days 29 to 42) (CMFVP) or single-agent melphalan (L-PAM) (5 mg/m2 orally every day for 5 days every 6 weeks for 2 years) chemotherapy after a modified or radical mastectomy between January 1975 and February 1978. Patients were stratified according to menopausal status and number of positive nodes (one to three, more than three nodes) before randomization.

Childhood non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Egypt: preliminary results of treatment with a new ifosfamide-containing regimen.

Pediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) constitutes 16% of pediatric malignancies reported to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Cairo. Since July 1985, we have treated 39 previously untreated pediatric NHL cases younger than 16 years of age (mean, 7.6 years) with a new protocol consisting of alternating cycles: regimen A comprised cyclophosphamide, high-dose ara-C, Adriamycin and vincristine; regimen B consisted of ifosfamide, methotrexate and VP16, with intrathecal methotrexate.

Chemotherapy in invasive carcinoma of the bladder. A review of phase II trials in Egypt.

Since 1976, a series of phase II studies with screening of various chemotherapeutic agents in invasive bladder cancer have been conducted at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo. Different drugs were screened, one by one, in groups of 20-25 patients with inoperable, metastatic, or recurrent carcinomas. Evaluation was done by clinical bimanual examination, radiography, sonography, cystoscopy, and urine cytology.

Therapy of recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck using combination vincristine, bleomycin, and methotrexate. A Southwest Oncology Group Study.

Fifty-six patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were treated with the combination of vincristine, bleomycin, and methotrexate (VBM) on an every 2-week schedule. The overall CR + PR rate was 20%. Median response duration was 10 weeks.

Ifosfamide in advanced pancreatic cancer. A 5-year experience.

Ifosfamide was studied in advanced pancreatic tumor at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo. Over five years, 25 patients received a daily dose of 1.8 g ifosfamide for five days, courses reported every 21 days.

Combined modality therapy for first recurrence of breast cancer. A Southwest Oncology Group study.

The Southwest Oncology Group has completed a study of 213 women with the first recurrence of breast cancer. Eligibility included a radical or modified radical mastectomy for cure and recurrence which had received no other form of therapy. Patients were started on tamoxifen (TAM) 20 mg daily (Phase I).

Preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in relatively advanced head and neck cancer.

Thirty patients with locally advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were treated with two courses of cis-platinum chemotherapy (50 mg/m2 every 3 weeks). Twenty-three of thirty patients had either partial remission, improvement, or stable disease. Chemotherapy was well tolerated.

Hexamethylmelamine in advanced head and neck cancer. A phase II study.

The results of hexamethylmelamine therapy in 20 patients with advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer are reported. No patient had previously received chemotherapy. The dose of hexamethylmelamine was 8 mg/kg/day p.

Pediatric Hodgkin's disease in Egypt.

A consecutive group of 242 children with Hodgkin's disease attending the National Cancer Institute, Cairo during the years 1975-1980 were studied. Males predominated representing 76.85% of cases.

Analysis of human urine for mutagens associated with carcinoma of the bilharzial bladder by the Ames Salmonella plate assay.

The Ames Salmonella plate assay was employed to test urine samples from bladder cancer patients and controls living in Egypt for the presence of chemical mutagens. Urine from five groups of Egyptian adults were tested, including individuals with (1) neither bilharziasis nor bladder cancer, (2) urinary bilharziasis and normal urinary cytology, (3) urinary bilharziasis and atypical urinary cytology, (4) carcinoma of the bilharzial bladder, and (5) bladder cancer without bilharziasis. Plates treated with histidine dependent bacteria, S-9 mix, beta-glucuronidases and 0.

Phase II evaluation of rubidazone (NSC-164011) in advanced carcinoma of the breast. A Southwest Oncology Group study.

The SWOG carried out a Phase II evaluation of rubidazone in patients with advanced breast cancer. Good risk patients were given rubidazone 150 mg/m2 IV every three weeks. Poor risk patients were given a 25% dose reduction at the start of treatment.

Tamoxifen and oophorectomy in the treatment of recurrent breast cancer: a Southwest Oncology Group Study.

The relatively short survival following chemotherapy in patients with metastatic carcinoma of the breast and the introduction of antiestrogens has led to renewed interest in the hormonal therapy of breast cancer. Pritchard et al. (Cancer Treat.

Combination chemotherapy (CMFVP) versus L-phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM) for operable breast cancer with positive axillary nodes: a Southwest Oncology Group Study.

The Southwest Oncology Group in a prospective randomized study compared one year of adjuvant combination chemotherapy with continuous CMFVP to two years of intermittent L-PAM in women with operable breast cancer with histologically positive axillary lymph nodes. In fully evaluable patients with a 42-month median and 30-month minimum follow-up, treatment failures have occurred in 26% of 145 receiving CMFVP and 47% of 167 women given L-PAM (P = 0.002).

Breast cancer in Arabic women.

A case-control study of breast cancer was conducted in Cairo, Egypt and in Kuwait. This is the first such report from Arabic countries and the most significant finding is the animal incidence rate of 7.67 per 100,000 in Kuwaiti women, which ranks amongst the lowest thus far reported in the world.