title: The safety and efficacy of second-line single docetaxel (75 mg/m²) therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients who were previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  When used in the second-line setting, single-agent chemotherapy has produced response rates of more than 10% or median survival times greater than 4 months. We studied the safety and efficacy of using second-line single docetaxel (75 mg/m²) for advanced NSCLC patients who were previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three patients with advanced NSCLC received chemotherapy from May 2002 to January 2005. We retrospectively reviewed the charts of these patients. The patients received 75 mg/m² of doxetaxel on day 1 and this was repeated at 3-week intervals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age was 63 years (range: 42~77 years); 16 patients had adenocarcinoma and 8 patients had squamous cell carcinoma. The median number of cycles was 4 (range: 1~7 cycles). Of the 33 patients, 6 patients had partial responses, 13 patients had stable disease and 14 patients had progressive disease. The response rate was 18.2%. The median overall survival was 11 months (range: 7~15 months), and the median progression free survival was 5 months (range: 3~7 months). The median response duration was 5 months (range: 4~9 months). A total of 137 cycles were evaluated for toxicity. We observed grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in 79 cycles (57.6%), grade 3 or 4 leukopenia in 46 cycles (33.6%), and grade 3 febrile neutropenia in 2 cycles (1.5%). The median nadir day was day 9 (range: day 5~19), and the median number of G-CSF injections was 2 (range: 0~6). The most common non-hematologic toxicities were myalgia/arthralgia and neurotoxicity, but any grade 3 or 4 non-hematologic toxicity was not observed. The major toxicity of this therapy was neutropenia. The absolute neutrophil count decreased relatively rapidly, but neutropenic fever or related infection was rare. There were no treatment-related deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results revealed a satisfactory response rate (18.2%) with using docetaxel as the second-line chemotherapy for NSCLC. The second-line docetaxel was an active and well-tolerated regimen in patients with advanced NSCLC pretreated with platinum-based chemotherapy.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Lung Cancer Center, St. Vincent's Hospital, Suwon, Korea.
authors: Byoung Yong
authors: BY
authors: Shim
authors: Chi Hong
authors: CH
authors: Kim
authors: So Hyang
authors: SH
authors: Song
authors: Meyung Im
authors: MI
authors: Ahn
authors: Eun Jung
authors: EJ
authors: Hong
authors: Sung Whan
authors: SW
authors: Kim
authors: Suzy
authors: S
authors: Kim
authors: Min Seop
authors: MS
authors: Jo
authors: Deog Gon
authors: DG
authors: Cho
authors: Kyu Do
authors: KD
authors: Cho
authors: Jinyoung
authors: J
authors: Yoo
authors: Hoon-Kyo
authors: HK
authors: Kim