[Combination chemotherapy with etoposide, mitomycin C, and cyclophosphamide in advanced non-small cell lung cancer]

Forty-three patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were treated with a combination chemotherapy regimen comprising etoposide 100 mg/m2 p.o. days 1-5, mitomycin C 10 mg/m2 i.v. day 1 and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 i.v. day 1, every 4 weeks. The median age was 61, and the median initial PS-2. Fourteen patients had received prior therapy. The response rates in previously untreated patients were 25% (5/20) for adenocarcinoma, 0% (0/4) for squamous cell carcinoma, 0% (0/3) for large cell carcinoma, and 18.5% (5/27) for all patients. There were no responders among the pretreated patients. The median survival time was 7 months for previously untreated patients, 4 months for pretreated patients and 6 months for all patients. Patients with adenocarcinoma survived significantly longer (8 months) than those with squamous cell carcinoma (4 months) and large cell carcinoma (3 months). Toxicity consisted of leukopenia (74%), anemia (74%), nausea or vomiting (55%) and alopecia (94%).