| pubmed-article:72595 | pubmed:abstractText | The clinical toxicology, clinical pharmacology, and therapeutic effects of bleomycin given by continuous intravenous infusion were studied in patients with far-advanced unresectable cancer. The toxicity of bleomycin given by that schedule was qualitatively and quantitatively the same as when it was given by daily intravenous "push"; mucocutaneous toxicity occurred regularly after 7-11 days of infusion. Careful monitoring of pulmonary function revealed minor changes in Total Lung Capacity and Pulmonary Diffusion Capacity in nearly all patients; however, overt pulmonary toxicity occurred in only six patients (5%). 111Indium-labeled bleomycin was used to follow blood levels of bleomycin; it correlated well with the levels determined by microbiologic assay and could be measured at levels lower than could be determined by bioassay. Useful therapeutic responses were seen in a variety of tumors; 30% patients with very far-advanced carcinoma of the cervix demonstrated CR or PR, an incidence higher than has been seen with other regimens. Sixty-nine percent of patients with disseminated germ cell neoplasms of the testis, refractory to bleomycin given by conventional dose schedules, have attained partial remission through the continuous infusion of bleomycin. | lld:pubmed |
