Table 1 Case Series of Glucocorticoid Monotherapy
From: Systematic review of the clinical effect of glucocorticoids on nonhematologic malignancy
Author [reference], Year | Patient Characteristics | Treatment | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|
Postlethwait et al [68], 1951 | 4 gastric, 1 rectal, 1 gallbladder, 1 esophageal, all advanced stage | 300 mg IM of cortisone on day 1, 200 mg IM on day 2 then 100 mg IM daily for 21 days; one patient received 150 mg instead of 100 mg | no objective improvement |
de Camp [69], 1961 | 255 bronchogenic carcinoma, 19 primary lung tumors of other origins (sarcoma, adenomatosis etc.), 6 alveolar cell carcinoma of lung, 14 with cancer metastatic to lung, 26 pleural carcinoma, 2 pericardial carcinoma | patients received 30–40 mg of prednisone/prednisolone per day, which was tapered to 10–15 mg per day (occasionally to 5 mg per day) or 4 mg of dexamethasone per day tapered to 1–1.5 mg per day | no effect, either positive or negative |
Plengvanit and Viranuvatti [70], 1964 | 7 primary carcinoma of the liver | 40–60 mg of daily prednisone for 2 weeks to 10 months | little value as based on effect on pain and liver size (by physical examination) |
Bruera et al [67], 1985 | 8 colon, 7 breast, 4 lung, 4 soft tissue sarcoma, 2 kidney, 2 prostate, 1 head and neck, 1 melanoma, 1 pancreas, 1 ovarian | methyprednisolone 16 mg po twice daily for 25 out of 34 days | no tumor regression |