Treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma with 5-fluorouracil adriamycin, and mitomycin C (FAM).

Thirty-three evaluable patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma were treated with a combination of 5-fluorouracil, adriamycin, and mitomycin C (FAM). Two complete and five partial remissions (21% response rate) were observed. The overall median survival of all 33 patients was 5.9 months. Responding patients had significantly better survival than the non-responders (P less than 0.02). Analysis of the results according to sex, pretreatment performance status, and the histologic differentiation of the tumor failed to demonstrate that any of these factors influenced therapeutic results. The low response rate to FAM found in this study might be related to the fact that in the majority of the patients (85%) the primary gastric tumor had not been resected. The side-effects of this regimen were moderate. Taking into account the low response rate and the moderate myelotoxicity observed, a more intensive use of these three drugs in combination is suggested.