[A phase II study of carboplatin in lung cancer. The Carboplatin Cooperative Study Group]

A phase II study of carboplatin in ready-to-use solution (RTU) was conducted in patients with primary lung cancer at 9 institutes throughout Japan. Out of 44 patients entered in this trial, 38 were judged eligible by the extramural review committee. The overall response rate was 18.4% (7/38). The response rate for small cell lung carcinoma was 33.3% (6/18), against 5.0% (1/20) for non-small cell lung carcinoma. As for hematological toxicities, thrombocytopenia (less than 7 x 10(4)/mm3) and leukopenia (less than 3,000/mm3) were observed in 55.3% of cases, respectively. Nausea/vomiting was observed at an incidence of 60.5%. The clinical usefulness of carboplatin in RTU form was found to be comparable with that of carboplatin in lyophilized powder.