Combination of dacarbazine and doxorubicin in the treatment of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma.

The combination of dacarbazine and doxorubicin was given to 26 children with untreated rhabdomyosarcoma to determine its efficacy as front-line chemotherapy. A treatment course consisted of 250 mg/m2 of dacarbazine given iv on Days 1-5 and 60 mg/m2 of doxorubicin given iv on Day 1. After three courses of therapy, 17 patients (65%) achieved partial response and nine failed to respond. The side effects of treatment consisted of nausea, vomiting, flu-like symptoms, neutropenia associated with fever, mucositis, and thrombocytopenia (rarely). Although the response rate is comparable to other drug combinations, the lack of complete responses to the combination indicates that it is less effective as front-line therapy.