Purpose: Despite advances in the detection and treatment, the long-term survival of patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poor, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) of less than 5%. We conducted this observational study to determine the influence of docetaxel plus cisplatin combination chemotherapy on response, time to progression (TTP) and OS, and to evaluate its tolerability in chemotherapy-naïve patients with metastatic NSCLC.
Patients and methods: Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed stage IV NSCLC who met the following criteria were eligible for the study: no previous chemotherapy, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 0-2, objectively measurable disease, adequate bone marrow reserve, normal hepatic and renal function. Patients received docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) and cisplatin 75 mg/m(2), both given on day 1. Cycles were repeated every 3 weeks and a total of 4-6 cycles were scheduled to be administered.
Results: 50 consecutive eligible patients were enrolled into the study. Median follow-up time was 6 months (range 1-21). Median age was 61.5 years (range 39-75). Forty-eight (96%) patients were male. Histological type was squamous cell carcinoma in 21 (42%) patients, adenocarcinoma in 11 (22%) and undifferentiated carcinoma in 18 (36%). The median OS time was 16 months (range 7.1-24.9; 95% CI: 8-24). One-year OS was 56.3%. Overall response rate was 44% with 40% partial (PR) and 4% complete responses (CR). Twenty-eight percent of patients had stable disease (SD) and 28% progressive disease (PD). The median TTP was 4 months (range 2-13; 95% CI: 2.4-5.5).
Conclusion: Docetaxel/cisplatin combination demonstrated efficacy comparable to other platinum-containing doublets.