A retrospective comparison of adjuvant chemotherapeutic regimens for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): paclitaxel plus carboplatin versus vinorelbine plus cisplatin.

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy with vinorelbine plus cisplatin (NP) has been demonstrated to increase overall survival in patients with stage II or IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although paclitaxel plus carboplatin (PC) failed to demonstrate efficacy in patients with stage IB NSCLC, an exploratory analysis suggested that patients with large tumors can benefit from adjuvant PC therapy.

Methods: Clinical outcomes of patients who received adjuvant NP or PC regimens after complete resection for their NSCLC were retrospectively compared.

Results: Of the 438 patients with completely resected NSCLC, 207 received PC and 231 patients received NP. The median relapse-free survival (RFS) was not significantly different, with 63.6 months for the PC group and 54.8 months for the NP group (P=.68). Overall survival also did not differ significantly between the two groups. The five-year overall survival rates were 73% (95% confidence interval (CI), 66-80%) in PC group and 71% (95% CI, 64-78%) in NP group (P=.71). In the subgroup analysis, RFS was comparable between the two groups across all variables. Analysis of the adverse events indicated that sensory neuropathy, alopecia, and myalgia are more frequent in the PC, while anemia, neutropenia, fatigue, anorexia, and vomiting are more common in the NP.

Conclusion: Although the adverse event profiles were different, the efficacy was comparable between the PC and NP regimens as adjuvant chemotherapy for NSCLC. While there is lack of prospective data, our retrospective data suggest that PC regimen can be considered as adjuvant chemotherapy for resected NSCLC.