Abstract
To compare the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine versus docetaxel in a second-line setting of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients previously treated with platin-based combination chemotherapy. We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of 57 patients treated with single agent gemcitabine or docetaxel in second-line setting of advanced NSCLC who received one prior platinum-based therapy. The mean age was 56.7 ± 8.39 years with 55 ( 96.5%) males and two (3.5%) females. Forty of them received docetaxel and 17 gemcitabine. The mean number of chemotherapy cycles was 6.8 ± 4.0 in the gemcitabine group, while it was 4.6 ± 3.0 in the docetaxel group. Overall response rates were 8% and 12% (P=0.02) for gemcitabine and docetaxel, respectively. The median survival time was 22 versus 21 months for gemcitabine and docetaxel, respectively. The median times to progression were 8 and 5 months. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of incidence of adverse affects (40% vs 47.1%). All of the hematological side effects were grade 1/2. No major toxicity was encountered necessitating stopping the drug for either group. Treatment with gemcitabine demonstrated clinically equivalent efficacy with a significantly improved safety profile compared with those receiving docetaxel in the second-line setting for advanced NSCLC in this study. Based on these results, treatment with gemcitabine should be considered a standard treatment option for second-line NSCLC.
Highlights
Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death among malignant tumors (Cobo et al, 2007)
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of 57 patients treated with single agent gemcitabine or docetaxel in second-line setting of advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received one prior platinumbased therapy
We evaluated the affectivity and toxicity profiles of single agent gemcitabine and docetaxel in the second-line setting of advanced NSCLC patients previously treated with a combined platinum-based therapy
Summary
Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death among malignant tumors (Cobo et al, 2007). Despite an increasing proportion of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) derive prolonged survival with novel chemotherapy regimens; many of them will require second-line chemotherapy after relapse (Kosmas et al, 2007). Gemcitabine, pemetrexed and erlotinib have shown to be effective in the second-line chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC (Hertel et al, 1990, Lund et al, 1993, Fossella et al, 2000, Shepherd et al, 2000, Juergens et al, 2007). At a dose of 100 mg/m2 administered once every 3 weeks, has shown promising activity as a secondline treatment for NSCLC (Fossella et al, 2000, Shepherd et al, 2000)
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