The Nitrogen Mustards: Clinical Use

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Abstract
A summary of the results obtained in 300 patients with nitrogen mustards is given and the following statements are made: None of the nitrogen mustards so far used has given any indication of ability to cure any of the types of cancers treated. Palliative results have been observed in certain types of cancer. These are: cases of generalized Hodgkin''s disease with marked constitutional symptoms, often amenable to detoxication within a few days; advanced cases of lymphosarcoma in which some part of the disease is immediately threatening to life and in which the lesion causing the immediate danger is not amenable to surgery or irradiation; and anaplastic carcinomas of the lung. In early and intermediate stages of Hodgkin''s disease, in most cases of chronic leukemia and lymphosarcoma, it seems doubtful that nitrogen mustard offers any advantage in general over the other methods of treatment, particularly over X-ray therapy, or in fact whether, in general, it is as good as X-ray therapy.