Docetaxel monotherapy as second-line treatment for pretreated advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients.
BACKGROUND
Second-line chemotherapy offers advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients a small, but significant increase in survival. Docetaxel is usually administered as a 3-week schedule, yet there is significant toxicity with this therapy. Therefore, a weekly schedule has been explored in several previous trials. In this retrospective study, we compared the efficacy and safety of a weekly schedule and a 3-week schedule of docetaxel monotherapy in a second-line setting.


METHODS
Docetaxel was administered as 75 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks or as 37.5 mg/m2 on day 1 and 8 every 3 weeks until disease progression or severe toxicity developed.


RESULTS
From October 2003 to March 2006, a total of 37 patients received docetaxel monotherapy and 36 patients could be evaluated. A total of 135 cycles were administered and then evaluated. The median overall survival was 13.3 months (95% confidence interval: 6.3-20.3) for the weekly schedule and 10.7 months (95% confidence interval: 8.3-13.0) for the 3-week schedule (p=0.41). The median time to progression was 3.0 months (95% confidence interval: 1.9-4.0) and 2.8 months (95% confidence interval: 1.0-4.6), respectively (p=0.41). The response rate was 16.7% for the weekly schedule and 21.1% for the 3-week schedule. The major form of hematologic toxicity was grade 3-4 neutropenia (3-week: 38.9%, weekly: 9.5%). The non-hematologic toxicities were similar between the two schedules. There were no treatment-related deaths.


CONCLUSIONS
A docetaxel weekly schedule was very tolerable and it had comparable activity to that of the 3-week docetaxel schedule. Considering the efficacy and tolerability, a docetaxel weekly schedule can be an alternative schedule for the standard treatment of NSCLC in a second-line setting.
Ko
Yoon Ho
YH
Lung Cancer Multidisciplinary Team of Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Myung Ah
MA
Hong
Yeong Seon
YS
Lee
Kyung Shik
KS
Park
Hyun Jin
HJ
Yoo
Ie Ryung
IeR
Kim
Yeon Sil
YS
Kim
Young Kyoon
YK
Jo
Keon Hyun
KH
Wang
Young Pil
YP
Lee
Kyo Young
KY
Kang
Jin Hyoung
JH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D000077143:Docetaxel; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel