title: Triplet chemotherapy combination with cisplatin, gemcitabine and docetaxel in patients with chemotherapy-naive advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: The synergistic effects of new generation chemotherapeutics when combined with cisplatin have encouraged the development of new triplet combination regimens in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of triplet chemotherapy using weekly cisplatin-gemcitabine-docetaxel (CGD) for patients with chemotherapy-naive NSCLC. Twenty-seven patients with stage IIIB/IV disease and performance status of 0 to 2 were included in this prospective trial. A combination of gemcitabine 750 mg/m2, cisplatin 25 mg/m2and docetaxel 25 mg/m2was administered on days 1, 8 and 15, with cycles repeated every 3 weeks. Leucopenia and/or neutropenia and to a lesser extent thrombocytopenia were the main dose-limiting toxicities. Grade III-IV neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 26 and 7% of the patients, respectively. Only one patient developed febrile neutropenia. Dose reductions were required in 26% of patients, delays in 44% of patients and early treatment discontinuation in 15% of patients. The overall response rate was 52% and all of them experienced a partial response. The median progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) times were 6 and 13 months, respectively. The one-year survival rate was 46%. In conclusion, weekly administration of CGD is an active first-line therapy with acceptable toxicity in advanced NSCLC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul 34390, Turkey.
authors.forename: Faruk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tas
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: Nese
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guney
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Camlica
keywords: cisplatin; docetaxel; gemcitabine; non-small cell lung cancer; triplet chemotherapy; weekly