TREATMENT OF MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS OF THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT WITH A COMBINATION OF 5-FLUOROURACIL AND RADIATION: A RANDOMIZED DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY.

Combined chemotherapy and irradiation in the management of malignant disease is a subject of wide and current interest. It has been hoped that the combining of these therapeutic modalities would produce results superior to those achieved with either alone. Hodnett recently reviewed the literature in this field (4). Some authors believe that their results demonstrate marked synergism or additive effects of the combined therapy, while others have withheld judgment, pending the results of controlled studies. The University of Wisconsin group published several reports of controlled studies. They used 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and irradiation to treat mammary carcinoma of mice (6) and the same combination for bronchogenic carcinoma in man (1, 3). In the animal studies, the combination of 5-fluorouracil, actinomycin P2, or cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) with fractional x-ray therapy resulted in increased inhibition of tumor growth as well as in prolonged survival when compared to either mode of therapy alone. From thei...