Preliminary phase II study of adriamycin (ADM) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

A phase II study of adriamycin (ADM) (60 mg/m2) was performed in 22 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). There were no responders in the 19 evaluable patients (16 with adenocarcinoma, two with squamous cell carcinoma and one with large cell carcinoma). The major side effects were alopecia (89%), leukocytopenia (73%), thrombocytopenia (58%) and upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Although ADM at 60 mg/m2 did not appear to have sufficient antitumor activity against NSCLC in this study, it is necessary to evaluate further the efficacy of ADM against NSCLC with another treatment schedule.