A PILOT STUDY TO EVALUATE CARBOPLATIN /VINORELBIN COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY IN ADVANCED NON SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER

Abstract

A pilot study in patients with stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was carried out to evaluate the clinical activity, survival and toxicity of the chemotherapeutic combination of Carboplatin + Vinorelbin. Twenty patient (16 male, 4 female) with a mean age of 60.7 years ± SD. 7.2 (range 47-73) and ECOG performance status of 0-2 were enrolled into the trial. Eight patients had stage IIIB and 12 had stage IV NSCLC. Vinorelbin 30 mg /m2 diluted in 50 cc of normal saline was given as i/v slow push. Carboplatin 400 mg/m2 diluted in 200 CC of dextrose water was administered in 1 hour. Cycles were repeated every twenty one days. One patient had a complete response and 8 had a partial response for an overall response rate of 45%. Five patients had stabledisease and 6 were considered as treatment failures. Median survival was 6 months and overall survival was 7.3 ± SD 4.5 months. Mean duration of response in responding patients was 7.1 months and time to progression was 6.9 ± SD 4.9 months. One patient experienced febrile neutropenia requiring hospitalization and one patient developed prolonged thrombocytopenia. It appears that Carboplatin/ Vinorelbin combination chemotherapy is an effective regimen for NSCLC with acceptable toxicity profile.