Etoposide, l-leucovorin and fluorouracil (ELF) regimen in metastatic gastric cancer: a phase II study.

The role of chemotherapy in metastatic gastric cancer (MGC) is predominantly palliative, therefore regimens with mild toxicity and acceptable activity should be preferred. The combination of etoposide, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil (ELF) is suitable chemotherapy in this situation. We have enrolled 33 patients with MGC, using the following chemotherapy schedule: I-leucovorin 150 mg/m(2) 10 minute i.v., followed by etoposide 120 mg/m(2) 50 minute i.v., followed by 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m2 10 minute i.v. on days 1-3, every 22 days. All patients are valuable for response, toxicity and survival. Two patients achieved complete response (6%), 10 patients (30%) had a partial response (PR), 9 patients (27%) had stabilization of disease (SD) and 12 patients had disease progression (PD), The median survival for all patients was 6 months (range, 1 to 40+), ELF was well tolerated, the main toxicity being myelosuppression, No toxic deaths occurred. In conclusion, the ELF regimen in our trial demonstrated, in this kind of patient, moderate activity in the absence of relevant toxicity, confirming its suitability in patients in generally poor condition.