Three months treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy for small cell lung cancer

Fifty-five patients with inoperable but limited stage small cell carcinoma of the bronchus and a further 15 patients with contra lateral neck nodes, pleural effusions and marrow involvement were entered into the study and treated. The 3 month treatment regimen comprised 3 courses of etoposide with cyclophosphamide at 2.5 gm-2 followed by methotrexate and radiotherapy, no maintenance treatment was given. The complete response rate in the total patient group was 54% and the partial response rate 21%. The median survival was 11 months for the 70 patients, 15 months for the complete responders, and those patients with a bronchoscopically confirmed complete response survived significantly longer. There was no significant difference between the patients with strictly limited stage disease and those in the broader category. Eight patients are tumour free and alive one year or more after the end of treatment. The median followup is 17 months. Twenty-four patients were delayed 1-2 weeks during treatment because of chemotherapy induced toxicity. Six patients died probably of infection associated with leucopaenia. The majority of the patients' Karnofsky performance improved with the treatment as did their breathlessness assessed on a respiratory score. The short intensive chemotherapy regimen of 3 months produced similar results to those following more prolonged treatment regimens.