Clinical evaluation of two combination chemotherapies for the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the lung.

The effects of two different combination chemotherapies, i.e. cyclophosphamide (CPM) + vincristine (VCR) + methotrexate (MTX) and ACNU + VCR, with or without radiotherapy, were studied in twenty patients with untreated small cell carcinoma of the lung. Respective response rates were 66.7% for CVM and 50% for AV. Median survival time was 51 weeks for CVM and 27 weeks for AV. There was no statistically significant difference between the survival probability curves of CVM and AV. Concerning toxicity, two hazardous side effects, myelosuppression and interstitial pneumonitis, were observed although the incidences were low. We concluded that both regimens are useful as chemotherapy of small cell carcinoma.