ANALYSIS OF LONG-TERM SURVIVORS AFTER PLATINUM-CONTAINING CHEMOTHERAPY IN ADVANCED NONSMALL CELL LUNG-CANCER

Among 195 patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC), we evaluated the characteristics of two-year survi vors. All the patients with stage IIIA-IV disease received platinum co ntaining combination chemotherapy at Tsukuba University Hospital betwe en 1985 and 1996. Fourteen patients (7.2%) and 7 patients (3.6%) survi ved for more than 2 and 3 years, respectively Ten of the 14 responded to initial chemotherapy, and 9 patients received additional treatment such as thoracic irradiation and/or surgical resection. Three of the 1 4 patients survived more than 5 years disease free, one of them surviv ed more than 10 years. From the results uni-and multivariate analyses of these patients, early stage of the disease, low number of metastati c site, without associated lung disease were confirmed as significant determinants of survival This study revealed that a small proportion o f patients with advanced NSCLC might be potentially curable with appro priate treatment.