Treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Although the overall survival rates for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer have not changed in the past two decades, meta-analytic studies have confirmed that a modest increase in mean survival time can be gained with platinum-based combination chemotherapy. With appropriate selection of patients, chemotherapy will have symptomatic benefits in more than 60% of patients, and concerns regarding the costs of chemotherapy will be lessened by the observation that in some instances chemotherapy is less costly than best supportive care. Until the end of the 1980s, apart from the few active agents and their analogues no new drugs became available, but in the past 5 years several new agents have shown promising results and are now being included in combination programs. Large-scale comparative studies, looking for the combination with the best therapeutic index, are awaited with great interest. The number of patients with non-small cell lung cancer is so great that even modest improvements in therapy will have a great impact on survival rates.
van Zandwijk
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The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Department of Chest Oncology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Giaccone
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D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000556:secondary; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D043823:Taxoids; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077235:Vinorelbine; D000093542:Gemcitabine
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D043823:Taxoids; D003841:Deoxycytidine; C080625:taxane; D014747:Vinblastine; D000077235:Vinorelbine; D000093542:Gemcitabine