A phase II study of carboplatin and paclitaxel as first line chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of tumour-related deaths in the elderly population but the optimal management of advanced NSCLC in older patients has not been defined to date. The present phase II study was planned to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.

Patients And Methods: Patients (>70 years old) who had pathologically been proven to have a NSCLC and measurable lesions were treated with paclitaxel (175 mg/m2 for 3h) and carboplatin [area under the concentration-time curve (AUC=5)] on day 1 every 3 weeks.

Paclitaxel, carboplatin and gemcitabine combination as induction chemotherapy for stage IIIA N2 bulky non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Induction chemotherapy followed by surgical resection or definitive radiotherapy for patients affected by stage IIIA N2 bulky non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been investigated in several trials.

Patients And Methods: In this present study, 52 patients with stage IIIA N2 bulky NSCLC with cytologically or histologically confirmed mediastinal lymph node involvement received paclitaxel 175 mg/mq on day 1, carboplatin AUC 5 on day 1 and gemcitabine 1,000 mg/mq on day 1 and 8 every 3 weeks for three cycles as induction chemotherapy.

Results: Objective response (4 complete remission and 36 partial remission) was achieved in 40/52 patients.

Oral temozolomide in heavily pre-treated brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer: phase II study.

Introduction: The primary tumour type most likely to metastasize to the brain is lung cancer. In heavily pre-treated patients, limited therapeutic option is available and the results of availability therapies reported in literature are disappointing. The present phase II study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of temozolomide (TMZ) as palliative treatment for brain metastases (BrM) in NSCLC patients pre-treated with WBRT and at least one line of chemotherapy for metastatic brain disease.