[Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) and aminoglutethimide (AG) in metastatic breast carcinoma. Preliminary report on a phase II study of the German Cancer Society's Internal Medicine Oncology Task Force].

: In 114 patients with metastatic breast cancer resistant to chemo- and hormonal therapy another attempt was made to treat these patients with the hormone combination of aminoglutethimide (AG) 1000 mg daily and medroxyprogesteroneacetate (MAP) 1500 mg daily for 6 weeks, than 500 mg MAP daily. At present, the following results were obtained from 100 evaluable patients: Complete remission (CR) 4,4% [median remission duration (MRD) 34,8 weeks], partial remission (PR) 18,5% (MRD 34,5 weeks), a no change status (NC) in 44,5% (MRD 17,2 weeks), in 32,6% of the cases there was no response. 19 patients with hormone receptor positive tumors obtained CR + PR in 26,3%, NC 68,4%. Bone metastases seem to respond best to this therapy. 2/3 of all patients suffered from cerebral side effects, particularly contemporary personality disorders and depressive syndromes, 53% showed a short increase of their liver values. During the first 6 weeks the side effects were most pronounced. In 16 cases - entirely patients primarily in bad general condition - the therapy had to be stopped due to heavy subjective side effects. The combination AG/MAP represents a new highly effective therapeutic modality with a relatively broad therapeutic index. The treatment results are described. MAP can replace cortisone generally applied together with AG and seems to have an additive effect with AG.