Treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma by combination of actinomycin-D, vincristine and imidazole carboxamide (nsc-45388): results of a randomized clinical trial

Previous trials at our Institute revealed the effectiveness of actinomycin-D and vincristine in the treatment of Kaposi's Sarcoma. We herein report the results of a further randomized trial designed to test the efficacy of the three-drug combination consisting of actinomycin-D, vincristine and imidazole carboxamide and to compare the results with those obtained by combining actinomycin-D and vincristine only for all forms of Kaposi's Sarcoma. Of the 40 patients treated with two drugs, 22 (55%) achieved complete tumour regression, 13 (32.5%) had partial response and 5 (12.5%) did not respond. On the other hand, 30 out of 32(94%) of those receiving three drugs had complete tumour regression, one had partial and one had no response. There is a significantly higher complete response rate (p<0.002) in the group receiving three drugs than in that receiving two drugs. The side effects encountered were comparable.