Abstract
The Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute conducted two prospective trials on the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with sarcomas. Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) appeared to improve significantly the disease free survival of 55 current protocol patients with sarcomas of soft tissue compared with historical controls (P<0.001). The high incidence of drug-induced cardiomyopathy associated with this regimen led us to begin a prospective randomized trial of this adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with sarcomas of soft tissue. The use of high-dose methotrexate following surgery in 50 patients with osteogenic sarcoma was associated with a small increase in disease-free survival (P=0.028) compared with historical controls. Little if any effect was seen in patients with high-grade lesions (P=0.11). Overall survival of patients with osteogenic sarcoma was dramatically improved (P<0.001), probably due to the introduction of frequent screening for pulmonary metastases and the surgical resection of these metastases as soon as they appeared.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 241-244 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | National Cancer Institute Monograph |
| Volume | No. 56 |
| State | Published - 1981 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cancer Research