[Study on effectiveness of carmofur (Mifurol) in urogenital carcinoma, especially bladder cancer, as a post-operative adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent].

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of carmofur (Mifurol), a masked compound of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), in preventing postoperative recurrence of urogenital carcinoma (especially in bladder cancer). Carmofur was given orally at the dose of 300 approximately 600 mg/day to 134 patients (90 males and 44 females) after the resection. Out of 134 patients, 121 patients were evaluable and the rate of their recurrence was 10.7%. The rate of cumulative nonrecurrence for 65 patients it was 96.0, 73.0 and 60.8% in 1, 2 and 3 years, respectively. The group of curative resection demonstrated a higher cumulative nonrecurrence rate than that of noncurative or palliative resection group. In considering the resection methods, transurethral resection of bladder tumor group demonstrated a higher rate than partial or total cystectomy. The average concentration of 5-FU in serum was 0.65 microgram/ml at 120 minutes after oral administration of 200 mg of carmofur. Moreover, the concentration of 5-FU (15 approximately 35 micrograms/ml) in urine was higher than that of carmofur. The rate of side effects that appeared was 19.6%. The side effects were hot feeling (12.2%), pollakisuria (4.3%), anorexia (4.3%), an antabuse-like reaction by drinking (3.8%) and so on. These results were similar to those already reported.