Fluorouracil, imidazole carboxamide dimethyl triazeno, vincristine, and bis-chloroethyl nitrosourea (FIVB) in colon cancer.

One hundred and sixty patients with advanced metastatic colon cancer were treated with the drug combination of 5-fluorouracil (FU), imidazole carboxamide dimethyl triazeno (ICDT, DTIC), vincristine (VCR), and bis-chloroethyl nitrosourea (BCNU). All the agents were given in each cycle of treatment. The patients also received continuous ethylestranol. Special care was taken to ensure that the ICDT was not at any time exposed to light. Toxic effects included fall in hemoglobin, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, alopecia, stomatitis, nausea and vomiting, and occasional diarrhea. Among 112 patients who had had no prior exposure to cytostatic agents, complete remission (CR) was recorded in 12, and partial remission (PR) in 31. The median duration of remission in these patients was 5.2 months. The median survival for the whole group was 8.4 months: for responders the median survival was 10 months, and for non-responders, 5.4 months. PR was also documented in 10 of 48 patients who had received prior treatment with FU or FU plus methyl-1,3-cis(2-chloroethyl-1-nitrosourea) (MeCCNU).