A Phase II Study of 72-Hour Continuous Infusion Consisting of Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil for Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

A combination chemotherapy consisting of a 72-hour continuous infusion of cisplatin (CDDP; 100 mg/m²/72 h) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU; 3 g/m²/72 h) was conducted for inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Sixty patients were accepted for this study between June 1988 and December 1990. Forty-seven patients were male (median age 68). Thirty-four patients had stage III and 26 had stage IV disease. The response rate was 25.0% (95% confidence interval, CI, 14.0–36.0%), median survival was 15.7 months. In squamous cell carcinoma, the response rate was 35.5% (95% CI, 18.7-52.3%) and median survival was 15.1 months. In non-squamous cell carcinoma, the response rate was 13.8% (95% CI, 1.2-26.4%) and median survival was 17.7 months. There was a significant difference in response rate (p < 0.01), but no significant difference in survival (p = 0.36). Grade 3 leukopenia was 11.7%, grade 3 and 4 thrombocytopenia was 13.3%. Grade 3 nausea and vomiting were 8.3%. One patient had grade 4 renal toxicity. However, there was no treatment-related death. This regimen was well tolerated. In multivariate analysis, the significant parameters were CEA, performance status and response. In conclusion, 72-hour continuous infusion of CDDP and 5-FU for treatment of NSCLC provides similar response and toxicity as previously reported regimens using CDDP.

A phase II study of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil with concurrent hyperfractionated thoracic radiation for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a preliminary report from the Okayama Lung Cancer Study Group

“…In this study, we employed a combination of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) demonstrated to have synergistic antitumour activity in both preclinical (Scanlon et al, 1986;Esaki et al, 1992) and clinical studies (Rooney et al, 1985;Kemeny et al, 1990). For lung cancer, this combination yielded a response rate ranging from 25% to 47% (Lynch et al, 1994;Gemma et al, 1995;Tsuchiya et al, 1995), although 5-FU alone is thought to be inactive against NSCLC (response rate, 8.1%) (Citron et al, 1992). The mechanism of synergism between these two drugs remains unclear.…”

In vivo advantage of combined administration with CPT‐11 and 5‐fluorouracil in rats

“…Therefore, to lower the CPT-11 doses while still retaining the antitumor efficacy should be beneficial. 5-FU is one of the most widely used drugs against lung cancer (5). In a previous study, several investigators showed in vitro evidence that the combination of CPT-11 and 5-FU had a synergistic effect on human cancer cells (6±9).…”