Caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy for metastatic carcinoma and lymphoma of bone and soft tissue.

BACKGROUND We previously reported that caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy induced significantly good response in patients with musculoskeletal sarcomas. In that series, patients with metastatic carcinoma or lymphoma were treated with caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Five patients with metastatic carcinoma or lymphoma were treated with caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy. RESULTS Primary tumors were diagnosed as breast cancer, adenocarcinoma of the lung, clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and gastric cancer. Good responses (gross tumor shrinkage >30%, or histologically >90% necrosis) to chemotherapy were seen in all five patients. Survival time was >1 year in all patients, and three out of five patients presented no evidence of local recurrence or metastasis at the final follow-up. CONCLUSION Caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy may be of benefit for malignant tumors other than musculoskeletal sarcoma.