5-Fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and mitomycin-C in the treatment of adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma of the lung.

Fifty-four patients with adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma of the lung, 16 with localized surgically resected disease and 38 with metastatic disease, were treated with 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and mitomycin-C (FAM), in an attempt to prolong previously reported survival times in the patients. The postsurgical patients were given elective chemotherapy. Eighteen received radiation therapy for control of local disease. Tumor regression, attributable to chemotherapy alone, was noted in ten of 20 cases in whom there was measurable disease. The median survival time of all patients was 32 weeks, ranging from 25 weeks in those with distant metastases to 56 weeks in patients with surgically resected disease. FAM did not seem to produce any beneficial survival advantages.