Xiong JP et al. - In a study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of gemcitabine at a low dose of 250 mg/m2 in 6 h prolonged infusion with cisplatin in chemonaive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it was shown that low-dose gemcitabine in 6 h prolonged infusion plus cisplatin is effective in NSCLC treatment. Toxicity, especially myelosuppression, is remarkably mild Methods
58 chemonaive pts with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC were included, 39 males and 19 females, with a median age 61 years
34 pts had adenocarcinoma, 18 squamous cell, and 6 others
17 had stage IIIB and 41 stage IV
Treatment consisted of 250 mg/m2 gemcitabine in a 6 h infusion on days 1 and 8, and cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 2 of a 3-week cycle
219 chemotherapy cycles were administered, with a median of 4 cycles per pt
Results
Of 58 pts, all were evaluated for toxicity and 56 assessed for response
Overall response rate was 39.3% with complete and partial responses of 3.6 and 35.7%, respectively
Median time to disease progression was 5.5 months, and median overall survival time was 10.5 months; 1-year survival rate was 41.4%
Hematologic toxicity was fairly mild, and grades 3–4 hematologic toxicities consisted of neutropenia in 18.9% of pts, thrombocytopenia in 10.3%, and anemia in 6.9%
No pts required platelet transfusions, no bleeding episodes were recorded, and 3 pts received packed red blood cells (RBC) transfusions
The main nonhematologic toxicities included grade 3 nausea/vomiting in 27.6% of pts, grade 1–2 alopecia in 63.8%, and grade 1–2 skin rash in 17.3%
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