Clinical responses of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung to cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND
The efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung (LCNEC) remains unclear.


METHODS
Patients with LCNEC who received cisplatin-based chemotherapy were identified by reviewing 567 autopsied and 2790 surgically resected lung cancer patients. The clinical characteristics and objective responses to chemotherapy in these patients were analyzed.


RESULTS
Overall, 20 cases of LCNEC were identified, including stage IIIA (n=3), stage IIIB (n=6), stage IV (n=6) and postoperative recurrence (n=5) cases. Six patients had received prior chemotherapy, and 14 were chemo-naive patients. The patients had received a combination of cisplatin and etoposide (n=9), cisplatin, vindesine and mitomycin (n=6), cisplatin and vindesine (n=4), or cisplatin alone (n=1). One patient showed complete response and nine showed partial response, yielding an objective response rate of 50%. The response rate did not differ between patients with the initial diagnosis of SCLC and those with the initial diagnosis of NSCLC, however, the response rate in chemo-naive patients (64%) was significantly different from that in previously treated patients (17%).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the response rate of LCNEC to cisplatin-based chemotherapy was comparable to that of SCLC.
Yamazaki
Shigeo
S
Division of Thoracic Oncology and Internal Medicine, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tsukiji 5-1-1, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.
Sekine
Ikuo
I
Matsuno
Yoshihiro
Y
Takei
Hidefumi
H
Yamamoto
Noboru
N
Kunitoh
Hideo
H
Ohe
Yuichiro
Y
Tamura
Tomohide
T
Kodama
Tetsuro
T
Asamura
Hisao
H
Tsuchiya
Ryosuke
R
Saijo
Nagahiro
N
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018287:Carcinoma, Large Cell / Q000188:drug therapy; D018278:Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000188:drug therapy; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016685:Mitomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014751:Vindesine / Q000008:administration & dosage
D016685:Mitomycin; D005047:Etoposide; D002945:Cisplatin; D014751:Vindesine