Current concepts of cancer chemotherapy.

The most impressive regressions obtained to date with the use of chemotherapy are in metastatic choriocarcinoma of females. In the management of Hodgkin's disease, leukemia, and lymphoma, chemotherapy is a useful and accepted form of therapy. In many cases radiation and chemotherapy are interdependent. In disseminated carcinomas arising in the lung, ovary or breast, there is less likelihood of significant improvement with the use of chemotherapy, but if the disease is not amenable to radiotherapy, useful palliation can be obtained at times. While newer chemotherapeutic agents for cancer, notably the pyrimidine analogues, have a broader spectrum of antitumor effects than others investigated earlier, they should be regarded as providing a valuable research stimulus in the continued search for more effective and less toxic agents.