Skip Navigation

Annals of Oncology 2006 17(Supplement 5):v64-v67; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdj953
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rinaldi, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gridelli, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rinaldi, M.
Right arrow Articles by Gridelli, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2006 European Society for Medical Oncology

symposium article

First line chemotherapy in advanced or metastatic NSCLC

M. Rinaldi1,*, C. Cauchi1 and C. Gridelli2

1 U.O. Oncologia Medica B, Istituto Tumori ‘Regina Elena’, Roma; 2 U.O. Oncologia Medica, Azienda Ospedaliera ‘S.G. Moscati’, Avellino, Italy

* Correspondence to: Dr M. Rinaldi, U.O. Oncologia Medica B, Istituto Regina Elena, via Elio Chianesi 53, 00143 Roma, Italy. Tel: +39-0652666768; Fax: +39-0652665075; E-mail: mas_rinaldi{at}yahoo.it

The lung cancer global incidence has regularly increased during the last decades. Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 80% of all lung tumors. Different schedules including cisplatin plus gemcitabine or vinorelbine or paclitaxel or docetaxel or irinotecan showed advantages in terms of response rate, toxicity and quality of life, but little improvement in terms of survival. Some advantage was documented in favour of the combination including cisplatin plus a new drug versus monochemotherapy with new drugs. The large phase III studies performed with doublets containing new drugs and platinum are not free of criticism but in summary the research involving more than 3000 patients failed to indicate a standard regimen. With the aim of strengthen the phase III studies results, a meta-analysis tested the survival outcomes of published randomized trials, analysing the effects of the combination of gemcitabine and platinum compounds versus any platinum-based regimens. Gemcitabine-platinum combinations appear to offer a statistically significant superior efficacy in terms of overall survival and progression free survival as compared to other platinum-based regimens. Considering the palliative role of chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC and in order to reduce toxicity, not cisplatin-containing regimens were investigated. The results support the suggestion from the last ASCO guidelines: first-line chemotherapy of advanced NSCLC should be a two-drug combination regimen and not platin-based chemotherapy may be used as alternative to platinum-based regimens. The new frontier is represented by pharmacogenomic. The potential benefits of the pharmacogenomic approach lay in the possibility of predicting the patient chemotherapy response developing customized chemotherapeutic combinations and limiting severe side effects.

Key words: non small-cell lung cancer, advanced disease, chemotherapy, phase III studies, pharmacogenomic


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The OncologistHome page
P. A. Bunn Jr. and N. Thatcher
Conclusion
Oncologist, January 1, 2008; 13(suppl_1): 37 - 46.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.