Combination chemotherapy in inoperable lung cancer--a trial of 2 regimens

Combination chemotherapy with 3 drugs (vincristine + cyclo-phosphamide + methotrexate of adriamycin) were administered to 36 cases of advanced bronchogenic carcinoma. The median survival for patients with small cell carcinoma (SCC) was 24.5 weeks whereas that for non small cell carcinoma was 27.5 weeks (P greater than 0.05). Fifty-five per cent of the patients survived beyond 6 months; 30.5 per cent survived beyond 1 year and 11 per cent of the patients survived beyond two years. Adriamycin did not prove more effective than methotrexate. However, omission of adriamycin from the regimen may reduce the cost of chemotherapy.