We have studied the clinical impact of elective brain irradiation (EBI) in patients with locally advanced, non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSC). All patients received combination chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide + doxorubicin (Adriamycin) + cisplatin = CAP) or CAP plus radiotherapy as the initial treatment for their active tumor or as an adjuvant therapy. Of 97 evaluable patients, 46 were randomized to receive EBI (3 000 rad in 10 fractions given over two weeks). The characteristics of both groups were comparable by sex, age, performance status, pretherapy weight loss, histologic cell type, clinical staging, and type of prior therapy. EBI significantly decreased the incidence of central nervous system (CNS) metastasis in the treated group compared to the control group (4% vs 27%, p = .002). CNS involvement occurred in the treated group after failure at other sites whereas 12 of 14 control patients had CNS metastases as the first site of relapse. EBI decreased the incidence of CNS metastasis in all prognostic categories. Using multivariate analysis, the beneficial effect was shown to be significant in females, patients with good performance status, weight loss less than 6%, squamous cell histology, state III disease or no prior therapy. EBI significantly increased CNS metastasis-free interval with a beneficial effect that was significant in males, patients with weight loss less than 6%, squamous cell histology or responders. Although no survival benefit was observed for the treated group because of the adverse effect from other relapses, EBI will become more important as better treatment programs are developed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A phase II study combining taxol, etoposide, and cisplatin and using hematopoietic stimulating factors is now proposed. The optimal dose for combination chemotherapy has yet to be determined. An important consideration is potential cardiac effects of taxol with other drugs.

Docetaxel administered at 100 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks has notable activity against platinum-refractory non-small-cell lung cancer, with a 21% major response rate. Primary side effects were neutropenia, hypersensitivity, and fluid retention.

Docetaxel administered at 100 mg/m2 intravenously every 3 weeks has significant activity against non-small-cell lung cancer, with a 33% major response rate. Primary toxicities were neutropenia, hypersensitivity, and fluid retention.

This study estimates a phase II starting dose of gemcitabine in chemotherapy-naive patients to be 2,400 mg/m2/wk for 3 consecutive weeks every 4 weeks; this is much higher than that previously reported in heavily pretreated patients. Twenty-five percent of patients with advanced NSCLC achieved a partial response to gemcitabine. This significant activity in conjunction with a very favorable toxicity profile supports the further evaluation of gemcitabine in combination with other active agents.