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Vol.39 No.3 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
Pleurodesis with a Combination of OK-432 and Adriamycin for Malignant Pleural Effusions Caused by Lung Cancer
Kazuma Kishi, Masateru Kawabata, Eiyasu Tsuboi, Koji Narui, Sakae Homma, Tatsuo Nakatani and Koichiro NakataDivision of Respiratory Diseases, Toranomon Hospital
Sixty-seven patients with malignant pleural effusions caused by lung cancer were treated by pleurodesis with a combination of OK-432 and adriamycin (ADM). All patients underwent tube thoracostomy drainage. After pleural effusion was drained as much as possible, 5 to 10 Klinische Einheit (KE) units of OK-432 and 10 to 30 mg of ADM were injected into the pleural cavity. Additionally, 5 to 10 KE of OK-432, with or without 10 to 30 mg ADM, were instilled until daily drainage of pleural effusion decreased to less than 200 ml. The median total dose of instilled OK-432 was 10 KE and that of ADM was 30 mg. The median duration of tube drainage was 10 days. Overall response rate was 85.1%. Overall median survival time (MST) was 18.1 weeks. Only 12% of patients required repeated pleural drainage. The main toxicity was fever, but there were no serious adverse reactions. These results suggested that pleurodesis with a combination of OK-432 and ADM is an effective treatment for malignant pleural effusions in patients with lung cancer.
key words: OK-432, Adriamycin, Pleurodesis, Malignant pleural effusion, Lung cancer
Received: January 5, 1999
Accepted: March 19, 1999
JJLC 39 (3): 261-266, 1999
