Tolerance of 24-hour infusions or low- and high-dose bolus injections of adriamycin in children.

In 75 children with mainly lymphoid malignancies, adriamycin was used as part of the treatment. Three groups were distinguished: group I (n = 18), with an adriamycin dose of 30 mg/m2 as bolus; group II (n = 30), with a dose of 100 mg/m2 divided over 2 subsequent days; and group III (n = 27), with a dose of adriamycin of 100 mg/m2 given as a 24-h infusion. The tolerance of the low dose was the best. In group III small differences in the tolerance were observed. The recovery of the white blood cell count showed a delay in the infusion group, whereas the bolus injection group showed more vomiting. Severe vascular lesions occurred in the infusion group. The use of 24-h infusions of adriamycin is feasible when central venous accesses or totally subcutaneous intravenous devices are used. According to the literature, when long-term invasions of adriamycin are used, the risk of cardiomyopathy is diminished, without influencing the antitumor activity of adriamycin.