Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10912050 | Lung Cancer | 2005 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Irinotecan is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that is highly active against small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Etoposide is another drug that is effective for SCLC. Since combination of these two topoisomerase inhibitors revealed a synergistic effect in vitro and showed a safety in phase I study, we conducted a phase II study in patients with previously un-treated extensive disease (ED) SCLC to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of this combination. Fifty patients with previously untreated ED-SCLC were enrolled. Irinotecan was administered intravenously at 60Â mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15, while etoposide was given at 80Â mg/m2 on days 2-4. Treatment was repeated every 4 weeks for four cycles. The overall response rate was 66.0%, with a complete response rate of 10.0%. The median survival time was 11.5 months and the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 43.2 and 14.4%, respectively. The major toxicity of this regimen was myelosuppression, including grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (62.9%), leukopenia (28.0%), and anemia (14%). The other grade 3 toxicity was diarrhea (2%). This irinotecan and etoposide regimen is active against ED-SCLC with relatively mild toxicity.
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Authors
S. Kudoh, S. Nakamura, T. Nakano, K. Komuta, T. Isobe, N. Katakami, Y. Fukuda, Y. Takada, M. Takada, M. Fukuoka, Y. Ariyoshi,