A phase II study of carboplatin and paclitaxel as first line chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of tumour-related deaths in the elderly population but the optimal management of advanced NSCLC in older patients has not been defined to date. The present phase II study was planned to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. Patients and methods: Patients (>70 years old) who had pathologically been proven to have a NSCLC and measurable lesions were treated with paclitaxel (175 mg/m2for 3 h) and carboplatin [area under the concentration-time curve (AUC = 5)] on day 1 every 3 weeks. Results: Forty patients were enrolled into the study. The median age was 74 year…