Combined treatment including postoperative chemotherapy in lung cancer patients.

The results of a cooperative randomized study performed in Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet Union on the treatment of lung cancer patients are presented. Three hundred and sixty patients were treated only surgically, 360 patients received combined therapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed using 3 preparations (cyclophosphane, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil) within 2-3 weeks after operation (first course) followed by another 3 courses at intervals of 8-9 weeks. The combined therapy increased the 5-year survival rate of patients with Stage III squamous cell carcinoma with thoracic lymph node metastases. Better results were achieved when 3-4 courses of adjuvant chemotherapy were performed. In patients with Stage I-II squamous cell carcinoma of the lung without regional lymph node metastases the used regimen of combined therapy had no significant effect.