Comparison of continuously infused 5-fluorouracil with bolus injection in treatment of patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma

In a randomized series of 70 patients with with colo rectal adenocarcinoma, a comparison of systemic 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy administered as a continuous 120-hours infusion vs. intravenous bolus injection daily for 5 days demonstrated superiority of prolonged intravenous infusion. The most striking advantage of prolonged infusion of 5-FU was the absence of myelotoxicity. Fifteen of the 34 patients treated with infusion and 8 of the 36 patients treated by bolus injection developed objective tumor responses. The difference in response rate at least in part is explainable by unequal distribution of patients with different characteristics between the two treatment groups.