Control of Neoplastic Effusion by Phosphoramide Chemotherapy

Abstract

The effectiveness of triethylene thiophosphoramide in the treatment of human neoplastic disease was first reported by Shay and his co-workers in 1953.¹ The observations of this group were largely confined to the leukemias and the lymphomas. In a series of 99 patients with various types of far-advanced cancer treated with triethylene thiophosphoramide, palliation of varying degree was achieved, especially in mammary and ovarian carcinoma.² Local injection not only permitted larger total doses of drug than did systemic administration but also produced greater regression of local disease, in addition to the effect on distant disease. This report concerns the results of intracavitary injection of phosphoramide agents on serous effusion in a small group of so-called hopeless cancer patients. N,N',N"-triethylene thiophosphoramide* crystals were dissolved in sterile distilled water, 10 mg. per cc., and filtered through a sintered glass or a Seitz filter. Solutions of N-(3-oxapentamethylene) N',N"-diethylene phosphoramide* were prepared in