Purpose: The optimal chemotherapy regimen for concurrent chemoradiation in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear. Cisplatin-etoposide regimen related toxicity is high, weekly regimens have been investigating. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of different concurrent chemotherapy regimens in the context.
Methods: A total of 225 patients with locally advanced, unresectable stage III NSCLC were included. Patients who were treated with weekly docetaxel-platin (DP), paclitaxel-platin (PP) and standard dose etoposide-platin (EP) chemotherapy regimens were selected and divided into groups for the comparison of toxicity, response rate, progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) times.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference between overall response rate of each treatment groups (DP: 96.1%, PP: 94% and EP: 76.7%, p < 0.001). The median PFS time of patients who were treated with DP, PP and EP was 16, 15 and 13.3 months, respectively (p = 0.435). The median OS time of patients treated with DP, PP and EP was 19.2, 29.7 and 28.3 months, respectively (p < 0.001). The rates of adverse events such as nausea, vomiting, neuropathy and anaphylaxis was similar. Grade 1-2 mucositis or esophagitis, anemia, pneumonitis were significantly higher in PP group than other groups. However, hematologic toxicities were higher in the EP group than other groups.
Conclusions: Compared to the weekly chemotherapy regimens with the standard dose, our study demonstrated similar PFS, but a prolonged OS with the EP regimen. The clinical response rate of weekly regimens was better than the full-dose regimen. Adverse events and toxicity rates were different and depended on the type of chemotherapy regimen used.
Keywords: Concomitant chemoradiotherapy; Docetaxel; Etoposide; Locally advanced; Non-small cell lung cancer; Paclitaxel.