Alternating administration of adriamycin (NSC-123127) and vincristine (NSC-67574)-actinomycin D (NSC-3053) in advanced sarcomas.

Fifteen patients with surgically incurable, advanced, and metastatic sarcomas were treated with courses of adriamycin and vincristine-actinomycin D alternating within a 7-week cycle. Three patients had objective partial responses for more than 3 months (liposarcoma, 4 months; fibrous histiocytoma, 15+ months; desmoid tumor, 19+ months) while two other patients (liposarcoma, leiomyosarcoma) had lesser responses. No beneficial effect could be attributed to therapy in two patients with leiomyosarcoma, two patients each with synovial cell sarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and chondrosarcoma, and one patient each with rhabdomyosarcoma and mesenchymoma. No additive effect of alternating full doses of these agents could be demonstrated over the published data on response to adriamycin or actinomycin D alone.