Ifosfamide and mesna in combination with other cytostatic drugs in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer

Fifty patients with histologically confirmed advanced malignancies were treated with ifosfamide and mesna plus other cytostatics. The other cytostatic drugs added to the treatment regimen were cisplatin (36 pts), etoposide (31 pts) and doxorubicin (20 pts). Among previously untreated patients objective response was documented in 12 of 19 pts with ovarian cancer, 9 of 14 with small cell cancer of the lung and in all 3 pts with Ewing's sarcoma. Among patients with disease refractory to prior cytostatic treatment, objective response was documented in 8 of 9 with testicular cancer, 1 of 3 with high grade lymphoma and 0 of 2 with osteosarcoma. Side-effects due to the combination of ifosfamide plus mesna and other cytostatics were acceptable. No life-threatening or lethal toxicities occurred. Most commonly encountered toxicities were leukopenia (64%), nausea and vomiting (84%), alopecia (63%), CNS toxicity (30%) and renal toxicity (12%).