New combined therapy of radiation and local administration of OK-432 for esophageal cancer

We devised new combination therapy of radiation and local administration of OK-432 and performed for 26 patients with esophageal cancer between March, 1987 and December, 1988 as a pilot study. The average age was 73 years. Among 26 patients, males were 20 and females were six. Patients were irradiated at the schedule of under 2 Gy/day and the dose of TDF (time, dose and fractionation factor) 100 totally. OK-432, 10KE was endoscopically administered around cancer lesion at the beginning of the radiotherapy, and two weeks later, 5KE was given in the same manner. Complete response was obtained in 20 out of 26 cases (77%) and partial response was obtained in the remaining six cases (23%). All six patients with tumor length less than five cm showed complete response. All 16 patients who could not eat food orally before treatment, became to take food enough orally after the treatment and could discharge in good condition. One year and two years survival rate of 26 patients by Kaplan Meier method were 67.4% and 47.2%, respectively. Six patients with tumor length less than five cm, are all alive without a sign of recurrence. This combination therapy will improve not only the response rate and the survival rate, but also the quality of life of patients with esophageal cancer. (author)