Therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of sequential methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil in gastric cancer.

ABSTRACT

The therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of sequential methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil in 64 inoperable gastric cancer patients are reported. An intermediate-dose treatment was given to 48 patients, and a low-dose treatment to 16 patients. In the intermediate-dose treatment, leukopenia was observed in 11 patients, nausea and vomiting in six patients and diarrhea and stomatitis in two patients each. In the low-dose treatment, no patient developed toxic symptoms of grade 3 or 4. All 9 responders had adenocarcinoma of the poorly differentiated type and the response rate in patients who belonged to this type was 32.1%.