Background: Both UFUR (Tegafur/Uracil) and gemcitabine (G) are effective agents against chemo-naïve NSCLC. The effectiveness of combination of these two agents in NSCLC patients failing previous chemotherapy is unknown.Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of oral UFUR plus G in NSCLC patients who failed previous platinum-based chemotherapy. Methods: Treatment consisted of oral UFUR 200 mg/m2/day from days 1 to 14 and G 1000 mg/m2 intravenous infusion on days 1 and 8, of every 3 weeks. Results: Between June and November 2004, 31 patients were enrolled into the study, and 22 patients went off-study during that period. The present treatment was second-line treatment in 54.5%, and third-line or higher in 45.5%. Analyses of these 22 patients showed: mean age: 66.6, median cycles received: 3.5, and objective response rates of 22.7%. Treatment-related toxicities were mild and few. Grade 3 or 4 haematological toxicities included neutropenia in 3 patients and anemia in 3 patients. No neutropenic fever occurred. Non-haematological toxicities were all less than grade 3, except for grade 3 pneumonitis in 1 patient and grade 3 fatigue in 2 patients. Median time to disease progression was 3.8 months. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that UFUR plus gemcitabine salvage chemotherapy in NSCLC patients who have failed previous platinum-based chemotherapy produces a relatively lower toxicity profile, and a better compliance and response rate than conventional salvage chemotherapy, such as docetaxel treatment, and deserves further study. Updated data will be shown at the meeting.
Date:
2005-06
Relation:
Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2005 Jun;23(16):Abstract number 694S.
