Combination chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer. Two regimens containing adriamycin

Forty‐eight women with advanced metastatic carcinoma of the breast were treated with one of two combination chemotherapy regimens: 1) adriamycin and cyclophosphamide or 2) adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5‐fluorouracil. The response rate in the two‐drug treatment group was 50% and in the four‐drug treatment group, 55%. The median duration of response was ten months in both treatment groups. Dramatic responses were seen in patients with visceral metastases. Patients who responded to chemotherapy had a significantly longer survival than nonresponders (p<0.01). The long interval between adriamycin doses (six weeks) in the four drug regimen did not adversely effect the response rate—an important finding in view of the dose‐related cardiac toxicity of this agent.