Purpose: A phase II randomized trial of gallium nitrate/fluorouracil (5-FU) versus dose-intense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (M-VAC) was performed in poor-risk patients with advanced urothelial tract tumors. The efficacy and toxicity of these regimens were compared. Assessment of dose-intense M-VAC as salvage treatment in patients who failed to respond to the gallium nitrate/5-FU regimen was also performed.
Patients and methods: Thirty-four patients who had not received prior systemic chemotherapy were randomized to either arm of the study. All patients had one or more clinical features predicting a low likelihood of durable complete response to standard chemotherapy, ie, weight loss, visceral metastases, and low performance status. Gallium nitrate and 5-FU were each administered by continuous 5-day infusions every 28 days. M-VAC was recycled every 21 days, with prophylactic recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rh-G-CSF).
Results: Two of 17 patients (12%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4% to 36.4%) had a major response to gallium nitrate/5-FU. Sixteen of 17 patients treated with M-VAC (94%; 95% CI, 71.3% to 99.8%) demonstrated a major response. Five of 12 patients who failed to respond to the gallium nitrate/5-FU combination responded to M-VAC as second-line therapy (42%; 95% CI, 15.2% to 72.3%). Median survival for the gallium nitrate and 5-FU arm was 19 versus 17 months for the M-VAC arm, with a median follow-up duration of 35 months (range, 2 to 51) for all patients. Dose-intense M-VAC was associated with a greater incidence of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia.
Conclusion: Dose-intense M-VAC is superior to gallium nitrate/5-FU in poor-risk patients (P < .0001). Despite the overall high response rate, the median survival for patients with M-VAC remained unsatisfactory. Similar survival distributions were observed for patients who received investigational therapy followed by cisplatin-based therapy and patients treated with initial cisplatin-based therapy.