Treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma with Escalating Doses of Alpha-lnterferon

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Abstract
Forty-one patients with advanced renal cell cancer started treatment with recombinant alpha-interferon intramuscularly, beginning at a dose of 5 x 106 U x 3/week, progressively increasing doses every week, from 5 x 106 U x 3/week to 10 x 106 U x 3/ week, to the highest dose of 15 x 106 U x 3/week. No complete response was achieved, partial response was achieved in 6 (13%) patients with a median duration of 45.2 (13-134) weeks. The majority of side effects from interferon treatment evaluated according to WHO classification were seen during the first 2 months and they were fever (after interferon administration) in 95% patients, chills (51%), flu like syndrome (65%), fatigue (87%), anorexia (80%), worsening in performance status (56%), nausea and vomiting (19%), weight loss ( > 10% during therapy) (26%), leukopenia (14%), anemia (75%), neurological symptoms (43%), psychological symptoms (19%) and dyspnea (9%). The results are similar to other studies and toxicity was only moderate.

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