Maintenance treatment with medroxyprogesterone acetate in patients with advanced breast cancer responding to chemotherapy: results of a randomized trial. Essen Breast Cancer Study Group.

The purpose of this randomized phase III trial was to study whether medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) maintenance treatment prolongs the time to progression in advanced breast cancer patients responding to an induction chemotherapy. Patients with progressive advanced breast cancer previously untreated with anthracylines and progestins were given epirubicin (30 mg/m2) and ifosfamide (2 g/m2) on days 1 and 8 at 3-weekly intervals. Patients without disease progression after 6 cycles of chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive, until progression, either no treatment or MPA at a daily total dose of 500 mg.

Epirubicin and ifosfamide in metastatic breast cancer.

In a randomized, phase II trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of continued chemotherapy with epirubicin/ ifosfamide versus unmaintained treatment interruption in advanced metastatic breast cancer. Three hundred fifty-seven patients were enrolled and 331 were evaluable for response. Complete response was achieved in 25 patients (8%) and partial response in 121 patients (37%).

Prognostic impact of interferon alpha-induced cytogenetic remission in chronic myelogenous leukaemia: long-term follow-up.

To evaluate the long-term impact of the reduction of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive metaphases by treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) with interferon (IFN) alpha, we examined the outcome of 62 patients who had been enrolled between 1984 and 1990 into 2 IFN trials at our institution. As best cytogenetic response, 9 patients had achieved a complete remission and an additional 9 patients a partial remission. The remaining 44 patients had obtained either a minimal (n=29) or no cytogenetic response (n=15).

Impact of interferon alpha-induced cytogenetic improvement on survival in chronic myelogenous leukaemia.

The objective of this study was to investigate the prognostic impact of the reduction of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) positive metaphases by treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) with interferon (IFN) alpha. Therefore, we evaluated the outcome of patients with previously untreated chronic phase Ph-positive CML, enrolled from 1984 to 1990 into two consecutive IFN trials at our institution. Of a total of 71 patients, 62 (87%) were evaluable for cytogenetic response.