Cisplatin, etoposide, and irinotecan may be clinically beneficial as a second-line chemotherapy for selected patients with sensitive relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to a study published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.1
For this randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial, researchers enrolled 180 patients with SCLC that responded to first-line treatment, but who exhibited evidence of disease relapse or progression at least 90 days after completion of frontline therapy.
At a median follow-up of 22.7 months, median overall survival was 18.2 months (95% CI, 15.7-20.6) with combination chemotherapy, in contrast with 12.5 months (95% CI, 10.8-14.9) for topoteccan (hazard ratio, 0.67; 90% CI, 0.51-0.88; P = .0079), demonstrating a 33% risk of death reduction.
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The findings suggest that this regimen can be considered the standard second-line chemotherapy for specified patients with sensitive relapsed SCLC.
The most common grade 3 to 4 adverse events in the combination arm were neutropenia (83%), anemia (84%), and leukopenia (80%). Ten percent of patients in the combination group and 4% of those in the topotecan group experienced serious adverse events. One and 2 treatment-related deaths occurred in the combination arm and the topotecan arm, respectively.
Reference
- Goto K, Ohe Y, Shibata T, Seto T, Takahashi T, Kazuhiko N, et al. Combined chemotherapy with cisplatin, etoposide, and irinotecan versus topotecan alone as second-line treatment for patients with sensitive relapsed small-cell lung cancer (JCOG0605): a multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 3 trial [published online ahead of print June 13, 2016]. Lancet Oncol. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30104-8.