Nedaplatin and irinotecan for patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer.

Background: No standard second-line combination chemotherapy has yet been established for patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer (RSCLC).

Methods: Patients with RSCLC were treated with nedaplatin (NP) at 50 mg/m2 and irinotecan (CPT) at 50 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 every 4 weeks for four cycles.

Results: The clinical outcomes of 12 patients (9 male and 3 female; age range 48-76 years, median 62 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Seven of the patients showed sensitive relapse. Two patients had a performance status of 2. Nine of the patients were able to receive 4 to 6 courses of NP and CPT chemotherapy. Grade 3 or 4 anemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 25.0%, 50.0% and 41.7% of patients, respectively. There were no grade 3 or 4 non-hematologic toxicities except for febrile neutropenia in 1 patient. There was no treatment-related death. Nine patients achieved PR, and the objective response rate was 75.0%. The median survival time was 11.1 months (range 4.8 to 31.3+ months) and the 1-year survival rate was 50.0%.

Conclusion: NP and CPT in combination are effective and safe for patients with RSCLC.