Evaluation of high-dose etoposide combined with cisplatin for treating relapsed small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer is more responsive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy than are other forms of lung cancer. Nevertheless, most patients still relapse, and cures are rare. After failure of initial therapy, death comes rapidly, occurring within seven to eight weeks following relapse. An attempt was made to evaluate the use of high-dose etoposide with cisplatin for the treatment of small cell lung cancer in 20 patients who had relapsed after initial treatment. Two patients died from infections following treatment. Of the remaining 18 patients, half achieved responses. The average survival time was 20.3 weeks, indicating a synergistic effect between the high-dose etoposide and cisplatin. The study also experimentally treated five patients with recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in an effort to reduce the period of white blood cell suppression which follows the chemotherapy. (It is during this period that potentially fatal infections are most likely to occur.) There was no evidence that the exogenous colony-stimulating factor reduced the white blood cell recovery time in these patients. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)