Infusion of Floxuridine in Treatment of Solid Tumors

To the Editor:—  The recent article by Drs. Papac and Calabresi, "Infusion of Floxuridine in the Treatment of Solid Tumors" (197:237, 1966) concludes that continuous infusion of floxuridine is capable of producing significant benefit to patients with gastrointestinal cancers, perhaps exceeding that from other techniques of fluorinated pyrimidine therapy, at a minimal price of toxicity. Careful review of their data, however, reveals that of the 20 patients with gastrointentinal carcinomas treated solely by continuous infusion only two, or 10%, achieved a significant response, and these responses persisted for only 6 and 12 weeks. Usual regression rates reported in the larger series of gastrointestinal cancers treated with floxuridine or fluorouracil by rapid injection are approximately 20%, with a mean duration of response of several months. In an earlier article Papac and associates reported tumor regressions in 25% of such patients treated with flowuridine by rapid injection.In addition to the