A study of weekly docetaxel and carboplatin as first-line chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Weekly docetaxel demonstrated similar efficacy but better tolerability than standard triweekly docetaxel, and carboplatin was less nephrotoxic, neurotoxic and emetogenic than cisplatin. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of weekly docetaxel with carboplatin as first-line chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Forty-three Chinese patients have been included. Patients were administered docetaxel at a dose of 35 mg/m(2) on days 1, 8, 15 and carboplatin at an area under the curve (AUC) 5 on day 1 every 28-day cycle (maximum six cycles). Results: Of the 43 eligible patients, the assessed overall response rate (RR) was 30.2% with 30.2% partial response (PR) in 13 patients, 48.8% stable disease (SD) in 21 patients and 20.9% progressive disease (PD) in 9 patients. The estimated median progression free survival and median overall survival (OS) time were respectively, 120 days (95% CI: 80-160 days) and 340 days (95% CI: 224-456 days) with the patients surviving of 46.5% (95% CI: 31.6-61.4%) at one year and 20.0% (95% CI: 7.1-33.3%) at two years. The major grade 3/4 hematological toxicities were included leucocytopenia in 6 patients (13.9%) and neutropenia in 8 patients (18.6%). One patient (2.3%) suffered grade 1 febrile neutropenia. All grade of the nonhematological toxicities, such as nausea, vomiting, alopecia and fatigue held the proportion of 48.8% (grade 3/4 4.6%), 27.9%, 55.8% and 53.5% (grade 3/4 9.3%), respectively. Conclusions: The combination of weekly docetaxel and carboplatin showed feasible efficacy with acceptable hematologic toxicities for advanced lung cancer.