Antitumor Efficacy of Fluoxymesterone

Abstract

Recent reports have aroused considerable interest in fluoxymesterone,^* an orally effective, highly potent androgen, for the treatment of advanced breast carcinoma.^1-7 Because its exact antitumor efficacy in breast carcinoma was uncertain and had not been studied with simultaneous controls, we attempted an objective comparison of the effects of fluoxymesterone with those of testosterone propionate in a random series of patients who had received no previous hormonal therapy. Fluoxymesterone differs from testosterone in having a methyl group in the 17-α position (as does methyltestosterone), a fluorine atom in the 9-α position, and a hydroxyl group in the 11-β position (Figure). Method of Study Selection and Classification of Patients.— All patients seen in the Advanced Breast Tumor Clinic with recurrent, inoperable, or metastatic carcinoma of the breast, including inflammatory carcinoma, were admitted to the study if they had had no hormonal therapy for breast cancer, were postmenopausal, and had