The Mayo Clinic studies

Abstract

The Mayo Clinic has undertaken studies of chemotherapy for osteosarcoma since 1976. The first study, which opened in 1979 and closed in 1980, evaluated the role of high-dose methotrexate in combination with vincristine. From 1983 through 1986 patients were entered into a Childrens Cancer Group trial evaluating multiagent chemotherapy in the treatment of osteosar-coma. In 1988, a pilot protocol (OGS PILOT-1) was opened in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. This pilot protocol evaluated the histopathologic response to the combination of ifosfamide, Adriamycin, and high-dose methotrexate. This protocol was closed to patient entry in January 1991, and a second pilot protocol (OGS PILOT-2) was opened with the same collaborators. This second pilot protocol is evaluating the feasibility of a four-drug induction of cisplatin, ifosfamide, Adriamycin, and high-dose methotrexate and the histopathologic response to this regimen. The main theme these pilot protocols are exploring is the efficacy and feasibility of adding ifosfamide to the regimens used to treat osteosarcoma.