Successful Chemotherapeutic Modality of Doxorubicin Plus Dacarbazine for the Treatment of Desmoid Tumors in Association With Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

Purpose Desmoid tumors are locally aggressive and can be fatal in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients if they are not suitable for surgery or radiation therapy. Here, we prospectively investigated the efficacy of a chemotherapeutic regimen involving doxorubicin (DOX) and dacarbazine (DTIC) for inoperable FAP-associated desmoid tumors. Patients and Methods From an initial group of 120 FAP patients, seven of the 11 individuals with symptomatic unresectable desmoid tumors that were unresponsive to conventional hormone therapy were enrolled onto this study. The general chemotherapy regimen comprised four or five cycles of DOX (20 mg/m2 daily) plus DTIC (150 mg/m2 daily) throughout 4 days of drip intravenous infusion (day 1 through 4) every 28 days, followed by the cyclooxygenase–2 inhibitor meloxicam (10 mg/m2). The primary end point was relapse-free survival. The secondary end points included toxicity, clinical improvement, and tumor regression according to computed tomography. Results Significant ...