A PILOT-STUDY OF INTENSIVE WEEKLY CHEMOTHERAPY FOR EXTENSIVE DISEASE SMALL-CELL LUNG-CARCINOMA

An intensive weekly chemotherapeutic treatment for extensive disease s mall-cell lung cancer was piloted in 14 patients. The regimen consiste d of 6 drugs. Two drugs were given each week for a total of 12 weeks o f treatment. Modifications were required in the protocol to attempt to overcome excessive toxicity. Unexpected toxicity included anemia requ iring transfusions in 8 of 10 patients completing treatment, sepsis in 8 of 14 with 3 related deaths, and prolonged grade III motor neurotox icity in 2 patients. All 3 patients who died of sepsis had shown evide nce of response, and 8 of the remaining 11 had 90% or greater tumor sh rinkage. Two others had a partial response. Median survival time for a ll patients was 9.3 months.