A case of advanced breast cancer responding to low-dose 5'-DFUR

A 69-year-old female patient with locally advanced breast cancer with multiple bone metastases (T(4c)N₂-M₁) was treated with 5'-DFUR after failure of tamoxifen treatment. The 5'-DFUR dose was limited to 600 mg per day, half the usual dose, because of its gastroenterological side effects. The primary tumor and metastatic axillar lymph nodes regressed three months after the start of treatment, and the complete remission of lesions was obtained in 16 months. Reduction of bone metastasis was confirmed by the disappearance of osteolytic lesion in the skull roentogenogram and the decrease of abnormal accumulation on the bone scintigram. Serum levels of CEA and ST-439 markedly reduced during the treatment as the disease regressed.