High-dose cyclophosphamide therapy for malignant disease.Toxicity, tumor response, and the effects of stored autologous marrow

Abstract

Twenty-five patients with disseminated malignant disease received single or multiple courses of cyclophosphamide (CY) 60 to 120 mg/kg. Stored autologous marrow was infused following 120 mg/kg of CY in 6 instances. One patient received 240 mg/kg of CY over a 4-day period followed by autologous marrow infusion. Patients receiving 60 mg/kg showed a moderate leukopenia (mean nadir of 500/mm3), anemia (mean hematocrit decline of 8.2 vol%) and variable thrombocytopenia that ranged from no change to 34,000/mm3 with a mean nadir of 127,000/mm3. Increasing the dose to 120 mg/kg produced leukopenia to below 500 cells/mm3 with a mean nadir of 120 cells/mm3. Thrombocytopenia was severe with a mean nadir of 37,000/mm3. Hematocrit values in this group fell by 15.2 vol%. Infectious complications occurred following 1 of 10 courses at 60 mg/kg and 18 of 35 courses at 120 mg/kg. In the latter group, there were 7 episodes of septicemia including one death from pseudomonas septicemia. A second patient, with cerebral metastases, died of a CNS hemorrhage. The patient receiving 240 mg/kg died as a consequence of myocardial necrosis. The infusion of autologous marrow had no apparent effect on hemopoietic recovery or infectious complications. Of the responding patients, 3 had ovarian carcinoma, 3 had testicular tumors, 1 had adenocarcinoma of the bowel, and 1 had an undifferentiated malignancy.