Paclitaxel and cisplatin combined with etoposide chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastases

• Published in: Ai zheng = Aizheng = Chinese journal of cancer Vol. 23; no. 11 Suppl; p. 1459
• Main Authors: Yang, Qun-Ying, Chen, Li-Kun, Xu, Guang-Chuan, Liu, Jun-Ling, Liang, Ying, Zhang, Li-Na
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01.11.2004
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Brain Neoplasms - drug therapy; Brain Neoplasms - secondary; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - secondary; Cisplatin - administration & dosage; Etoposide - administration & dosage; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Middle Aged; Paclitaxel - administration & dosage; Survival Rate

Chemotherapy has been rarely considered an important treatment modality for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with brain metastases (BM) because of the existence of blood-brain barrier (BBB). In the recent years,the studies about BBB suggest that many agents (such as paclitaxel, cisplatin) have increased permeability to BBB once BM occur. Therefore, we addressed the role of this combination with paclitaxel,etoposide, cisplatin (some effective agents to NSCLC) as front-line therapy in NSCLC with BM. 20 chemotherapy-naive patients with documented BM from NSCLC and at least one evaluable extracerebral lesion were treated with paclitaxel (150 mg/m(2)) on day 1, etoposide (60 mg/m(2)) on day 1,3,5,and cisplatin (20 mg/m(2)) on day 1-5. The cycle was repeated every 28 days. 17 patients were evaluated for response and 19 for toxicity. The intracranial objective response rate (ORR) was 41%,the extracranial ORR was 53%. Patients who responded for the brain also had a response at the extracerebral sites. Grade 3-4 mye