FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE USE OF TRIETHYLENE MELAMINE IN NEOPLASTIC DISEASES

Abstract

IN A PREVIOUS paper¹ we reported that triethylene melamine, a substance which was developed for the crease-proofing of cloth, and which showed growthinhibitory properties in tumors in animals, had beneficial effects in the treatment of 14 human beings suffering from lymphosarcoma, Hodgkin's disease, chronic myelogenous leukemia, fibrosarcoma, reticulum-cell sarcoma, and mycosis fungoides. We observed during that investigation no improvement in patients with anaplastic sarcoma, osteogenic sarcoma, and carcinoma. These findings have been substantially confirmed by the report of Karnofsky and associates.² PRESENT STUDY At this time we wish to report on the use of this chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of an additional 28 adults with neoplastic diseases, and follow-up observations on 6 previously reported patients, who were still under study at the time of publication. Table 1 shows the classification and number of patients having each type of disease treated in the present and in the previously