Clinical research of pemetrexed combination with carboplatin as the therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer of senium

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the curative effect and toxic reaction of pemetrexed combination with carboplatin as the therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) of senium.Methods A total of 49 chemotherapy naive patients with ⅢB or Ⅳ NSCLC were enrolled in this study.Pemetrexed was given at a dose of 500mg/m2.Carboplatin dosed to an area under the time-concentration curve( AUC ) of 5.The chemotherapy was repeated every 21 days.Each patient was given at least 2 cycles.Results The curative effects of all the patients were evaluated.Among the 49 patients, the symptoms of 23 had been partially response ,21 stabilized and 5 progressed.The total effective rate was 46.9% ( 23/49 ).The efficiency of 68.2% in NSCLC with ⅢB phase were significantly higher than,29.6% in NSCLC with IV phase( X2 = 3.879, P < 0.05 ), Median time to progression (TIP) was 5.3 months.Median survival duration was 11.2 months( 3～ 21 months), and one year survival rate was 54.3%.The major toxicity included neutropenia, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, impaired liver function, febrile neutropenia, etc.The severity of these side effect was in grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ and well tolerated.Among 49 cases,23 cases of leukopenia(46.9% ) was significantly higher than that of nausea in 11 cases (22.4%), vomiting in 5 cases ( 10.0% ), abnormal liver function in 4 cases( 8.0% ).Fever in 1 case ( 2.0% ) ( X2 = 3.879, P < 0.05 ; X2 = 8.451,8.778,9.123,9.741, all P < 0.01 ).Conclusion Pemetrexed combination with carboplatin was effective in the first line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer,with mild to moderate side effect and safety in clinical practice. Key words: Non-small cell lung cancer; Pemetrexed; Carboplatin; First line; Senium