gestonorone-caproate and Cystadenocarcinoma

Guanosine 3':5'-phosphate (cycle GMP) in urine has been used to monitor the response of patients with ovarian cancer to treatment. Changes in the cyclic GMP level appear to correlate well with clinical status in that the disappearance of clinically detectable tumour is associated with a drop in the level whereas a tumour recurrence is associated with an elevation. Serially measured cyclic GMP is valuable for detecting a recurrence of tumour growth in patients in clinical remission and can predate any clinical signs by as much as 10 months. In patients who show no response to treatment, cyclic GMP levels in urine are elevated in the majority of specimens collected.

Topics: Creatinine; Cyclic GMP; Cyclophosphamide; Cystadenocarcinoma; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Gestonorone Caproate; Humans; Levamisole; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Ovarian Neoplasms

Fifty-four patients with advanced cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary were treated with gestronol (Depostat), 200 mg/week, by intramuscular injection and continuous oral cyclophosphamide, the dose of the latter being varied to maintain the patient's white cell count at about 1.5 x 10(9)/l. A combined partial and complete remission rate of 76 per cent was obtained. The length of survival depended upon the type of remission and the type of remission was markedly affected by the amount of tumour removed at initial laparotomy.

Topics: Cyclophosphamide; Cystadenocarcinoma; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Gestonorone Caproate; Humans; Leukocyte Count; Neoplasm Staging; Ovarian Neoplasms