First-line therapy with VP-16 and cisplatin for small-cell lung cancer.

VP-16 and cisplatin were used as first-line therapy in 31 patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) in whom chemotherapy regimens that contained doxorubicin (Adriamycin [Adria Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio]) were contraindicated because of severe cardiac or hepatic disease. Eight patients who had cerebral metastases at presentation were also included in the study. There were 11 patients with limited disease (LD) and 20 with extensive disease (ED). Of the 28 evaluable patients, 12 (43%) had a complete response (CR) and 12 (43%) had a partial response (PR). Four patients (14%) failed to respond. The median duration of response (MDR) for LD patients was 39 weeks and for ED patients was 26 weeks. Patients with LD who responded (CR and PR) had a median survival time (MST) of 70 weeks (range, 28 to 232+ weeks), whereas ED patients who responded had an MST of 43 weeks (range, 17 to 68 weeks). Gastrointestinal toxicity was mild, but leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were common. Mild degrees of reversible nephrotoxicity occurred in 15 patients, but required discontinuation of cisplatin in only two. The results of this study are compared with several other recently published reports of VP-16 and cisplatin used as first-line therapy in SCLC.