[Cytostatic treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer]

92 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were treated with cisplatin 80 mg/m2 day 1 and etoposide 120 mg/m2 on days 1-3. In 58 of them vinblastine 5 mg/m2 was also applied on days 1 and 3. In 25% of all cases partial response and in another 26% minimal regression was found after 2 courses of chemotherapy, independently to treatment modality. Partial regression was observed significantly more often in patients with adenocarcinoma, but survival time was significantly shorter in this group. Median survival time was 8 months for all patients, 10 months for stage IIIB and 6 months for stage IV. This difference was significant.