Phase II studies on weekly cisplatinum plus epirubicin or etoposide in the treatment of advanced non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma.

Thirty-six patients with advanced non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma were divided in 2 groups for treatment with two different platinum-based combination therapy regimens. All 16 patients who received the weekly administered combination of 10 mg/m2 cisplatin (CDDP) plus 10 mg/m2 epirubicin (4EPIDX) experienced no clinical response. Among the 20 patients who received the combination CDDP (10 mg/m2) plus etoposide (VP16, 60 mg/m2) weekly, 4 of them (20%) showed partial remission (PR). The side effects of both combinations were of mild grade. Further study is needed to verify the effectiveness of the weekly combination of CDDP and VP16 by comparing the above regimen with the "standard" intermittent doses.