Adriamycin/cis-platinum/cyclophosphamide combination chemotherapy for advanced carcinoma of the parotid gland.

Five patients were treated with a combination of Adriamycin/cis-platinum/cyclophosphamide for far-advanced and/or recurrent cancer of the salivary gland. Adriamycin, 40 mg/m2, and cis-platinum, 50 mg/m2, were given on day 1; cyclophosphamide, 200 mg/m2 daily for four days, was given by mouth on the third to sixty day of each monthly therapy course. Two patients achieved a complete remission, each lasting five months, and the three others had partial remissions from one to seven months (median six months) in duration. Therapy was well tolerated. Severe nausea and vomiting occurred on the first day of therapy but was self-limited. There was only mild to moderate leukopenia, no significant thrombocytopenia or elevations of serum creatinine, and no evidence of dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy. Adriamycin/cis-platinum/cyclophosphamide chemotherapy appears to be effective in the treatment of advanced parotid gland cancers.