[Treatment of unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with carboplatin and chronic daily administration of oral etoposide].

CBDCA has only modest activity against NSCLC, but it is less toxic than cisplatin (CDDP). And CB DCA has a proven synergistic effect with etoposide. On the other hand, etoposide is schedule dependent and when give daily peros has activity against several tumors. So we conducted a trial to evaluate the efficacy of a combination of CBDCA and chronic daily administration of oral etoposide for previously untreated unresectable NSCLC. The treatment schedule consisted of CBDCA 400 mg/m2 on day 1 and chronic daily administration of oral etoposide of 50 mg/day/body for 21 consecutive days every 28 days. Twenty-nine of 36 enrolled patients were eligible. The response rate was 27.6% (95% confidence interval: 11.1-43.9%). The median survival time was 405 days. The primary toxicity was myelosuppression: leukopenia, neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia of Grade 3 or 4 were 14.7%, 29.4%, 26.5%, and 5.9%, respectively. No bleeding episodes or toxic death were observed. Nonhematologic toxicity was slight, and there was no severe gastrointestinal toxicity. This combination was effective against NSCLC with tolerable toxicity and an "easily tolerated outpatient regimen".