Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Therapy of small cell lung cancer with emphasis on oral topotecan

2010; Elsevier BV; Volume: 70; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.lungcan.2010.05.020

1872-8332

Robert Pirker, Peter Berzinec, Stephen Brincat, Peter Kasan, Gyula Ostoros, Miloš Pešek, Signe Plāte, Gunta Purkalne, Regina Rooneem, Jana Skřičková, Dana Lucia Stănculeanu, Constanta Timcheva, Valentina Tzekova, Branko Zakotnik, Christoph Zielinski, Matjaž Zwitter,

Cancer therapeutics and mechanisms

Systemic chemotherapy plays the major role in the management of patients with small cell lung cancer. Cisplatin plus etoposide is the most widely used regimen and is considered as standard in patients with limited disease. Cisplatin plus irinotecan improved survival compared to cisplatin plus etoposide in a Japanese trial but failed to do so in two trials in Caucasians. Cisplatin plus topotecan had similar efficacy compared to cisplatin plus etoposide in patients with extensive disease. In the second-line setting, topotecan showed similar efficacy but better tolerability compared to cyclophosphamide, doxorubin plus vincristine. Oral topotecan was as efficacious as its intravenous formulation and was shown to improve survival compared to best supportive care alone in patients previously treated with chemotherapy. Thus topotecan is considered as the standard second-line chemotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer.