ORMONAL therapy of metastatic breast H carcinoma has become well established.
Androgenic and estrogenic substances have been utilized with moderate success to cause regression of metastatic lesions. Progesterone, however, has been used with limited success, chiefly because a potent, easily administered form has been difficult to develop. While attempting to enhance the biological activity of the adrenocortical steroids, Fried et al.1 developed 9a-bromo-1 1-ketoprogesterone, an agent that has been found to have powerful progestational properties.3 Early clinical trials of this preparation in patients with far advanced metastatic breast cancer were encouraging.2 This work led to the inclusion of the hormone in the first phase of a program sponsored by the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center of the National Cancer Institute. This program is a cooperative endeavor among a group of institutions, and its aim is the clinical evaluation, in a statistically valid environment, of new hormone preparations for the treatment of metastatic female breast carcinoma. The first phase of the study was designed to find those hormones that are significantly more effective than testosterone propionate. Preparations that prove better than testosterone propionate in the preliminary study will be evaluated further in a larger population. By this plan a large group of hormones can be screened, and the obviously ineffective ones can be eliminated from further study.
Methods
Through the cooperation of physicians throughout the State of Connecticut, 49 pa-From the Department of Surgery,