Thorax 1992;47:369-371 369 Treatment of relapse of small cell lung cancer in selected patients with the initial combination chemotherapy carboplatin, etoposide, and Thorax: first published as 10.1136/thx.47.5.369 on 1 May 1992. Downloaded from epirubicin Ph Collard, P Weynants, Ch Francis, D 0 Rodenstein Abstract Case reports Background Relapse of small cell lung From January 1987 to December 1990 small cancer is not usually treated with further cell lung cancer was diagnosed in 78 patients, chemotherapy as results are considered 36 with limited disease and 42 with extensive to be disappointing. disease. All were treated with intravenous Methods and results Six patients with carboplatin 330 mg/M2 and epirubicin 60 relapse of small cell lung cancer after a mg/m2 on day 1 and intravenous etoposide complete initial response and remission 120 mg/m2 on days 1, 3, and 5; courses were of more than one year responded to separated by three week intervals. The effect of repeat treatment with the initial the carboplatin-etoposide-epirubicin regimen chemotherapy comprising carboplatin, was not assessed in 15 patients as they etoposide, and epirubicin. The second received less than two courses of chemo- remission ranged from six months to therapy. Of the remaining 63 patients, six more than 15 months. were non-responders, 33 partial responders, Conclusion In patients with a relapse of and 24 complete responders (18 of whom had small cell lung cancer after a complete limited disease at initial staging); in most of initial response and prolonged remission the complete responders chemotherapy was retreatment with the initial combination followed by radiotherapy to the primary chemotherapy cannot be dismissed and tumour mass (60 Gy) and the mediastinum requires further study. (50 Gy), and they also received prophylactic cranial irradiation (30 Gy). Of the 24 com- plete responders, 12 relapsed early (less than 12 months after stopping treatment) and Small cell lung cancer has an aggressive seven had a late relapse (all had had limited http://thorax.bmj.com/ course and is usually widespread at presenta- disease initially); five patients have not yet tion. Surgery has been advocated in truly relapsed. The patients with a late relapse were Pulmonary Division, limited disease, but this is rare.' The best treated with further courses of carboplatin- Cliniques therapeutic approach for the time being is etoposide-epirubicin and are described in this Universitaires Saint- chemotherapy. Several combination regimens paper. Luc, avenue Hippocrate 10, B-1200 administered over three to six months have The clinical characteristics and the response Brussels, Belgium improved median survival and there is at to treatment of six of the patients are summar- Ph Collard present no clear advantage for any particular ised in the table. Clinical tolerance to on October 2, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. Ch Francis regimen.2 Unfortunately, the disease usually chemotherapy was excellent in all cases and no D 0 Rodenstein relapses a few months after discontinuation of febrile episodes occurred; patient 2 required Pulmonary Division, Cliniques chemotherapy and the benefit of further treat- an occasional blood transfusion during Universitaires de ment at this stage is less clear. chemotherapy. The six patients experienced Mont-Godinne, B-5530 We report six patients with disease relapse considerable improvement in symptoms and Yvoir, Belgium P Weynants who showed a good response to a repeat gained weight after repeat treatment with car- course of chemotherapy with the initial drug boplatin-etoposide-epirubicin; patients 1 and Reprint requests to: Dr D 0 Rodenstein regimen of carboplatin, etoposide, and 3 returned to sedentary work for several Accepted 19 December 1991 epirubicin.3 months while in their second remission. Data on the patients Patient No: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sex, age (y) M, 57 F, 59 M, 62 F, 62 M, 60 F, 71 Initial extension Limited Limited Limited Limited Limited Limited Initial treatment 4 Cx, LI, CI 6 Cx, CI 6 Cx, LI, CI 4 Cx, LI, CI 6 Cx, LI, CI 6 Cx, CI First response Complete Complete Complete Complete Complete Complete Remission (months) 19 17 22 31 21 29 Relapse site Local and brain Local Local Local Local Local and liver Relapse treatment 6 Cx 6 Cx 4 Cx 4 Cx 4 Cx 4 Cx Second response Complete Complete Partial Partial Partial Partial Remission (months) 10 11 6 12 Final relapse site Brain Brain Brain Local and liver Survival (months) 32 28 28 51 > 36 > 36 Cx-polychemotherapy course with carboplatin, etoposide, and epirubicin; LI-local irradiation; CI-cranial irradiation. 370 Collard, Weynants, Francis, Rodenstein Figure 1 Patient 1: Thoracic computed tomogram at the level of the heart at the initial presentation, showing a right lower lobe mass Thorax: first published as 10.1136/thx.47.5.369 on 1 May 1992. Downloaded from extending to the mediastinum (left) and complete response after three carboplatin- etoposide-epirubicin polychemotherapy induction courses (right). Figure 2 Patient 1: Thoracic computed tomogram at the same level at relapse, showing recurrence of the right lower lobe tumour (left) and resolution after three carboplatin-etoposide- epirubicin polychemotherapy reinduction courses (right). Figure 3 Patient 1: Cerebral computed http://thorax.bmj.com/ tomogram at relapse, showing the parietal metastasis (arrow, left) and its disappearance after three carboplatin- etoposide-epirubicin polychemotherapy reinduction courses (right). on October 2, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. The seventh patient, with a late relapse of treatment, with evidence of aeration of the small cell lung cancer, developed left lung left lung; he survived for 23 months after atelectasis from an occluded main bronchus diagnosis. 15 months after achieving a complete response from carboplatin-etoposide-epirubicin induc- tion treatment. He was treated again with Discussion carboplatin-etoposide-epirubicin but died A four to eight course induction chemo- after a single course from an infected perineal therapy regimen is regarded as standard initial haematoma (presumably facilitated by the treatment for small cell lung cancer. Most chemotherapy induced pancytopenia). There studies have shown that maintenance or late was already an objective response to the repeat intensification treatment does not provide Treatment of relapse ofsmall cell lung cancer in selected patients with the initial combination chemotherapy carboplatin, etoposide, and epirubicin 371 appreciable survival advantage and may in etoposide-epirubicin chemotherapy regimen fact be deleterious in terms of quality of for relapse in small cell lung cancer may be an life.246 With modern induction treatment a effective (albeit palliative) treatment provided complete response is achieved in a growing that the initial response was complete and the number of patients, who subsequently enjoy first remission was prolonged. Thorax: first published as 10.1136/thx.47.5.369 on 1 May 1992. Downloaded from several months of good quality remission. Although the response to chemotherapy at Treatment policy on relapse is controversial relapse is disappointing for most patients with and many patients and physicians are reluc- small cell lung cancer, identifying patients tant to consider further chemotherapy.7 A likely to derive benefit from repeated chemo- recent editorial states that further chemo- therapy is important, in terms both of survival therapy after the induction phase is not useful and of quality of life. The subgroup we have and that survival is not improved.8 It is also defined represents about 10% of patients with widely believed that if further treatment is small cell lung cancer. If our findings are prescribed it should be based on drugs other confirmed in a larger number of patients, with than those used in the induction regimen. similar characteristics, the current policy of no When a patient has shown a complete res- further treatment after relapse will need to be ponse to induction treatment we have elected revised so that patients will not be denied a to use the same treatment for relapse. As these potentially useful and well tolerated retreat- cases show, we have had encouraging results ment. with minimal toxicity. So far we have ob- served a response to relapse treatment with We thank Dr Y Humblet for his useful comments on the carboplatin-etoposide-epirubicin in every manuscript. patient meeting the conditions of a complete initial response and a prolonged first remission 1 Crompton G. Small cell lung cancer [editorial]. BMJ 1990; 300:209-10. of at least 12 months after finishing induction 2 Feld R, Ginsber RJ, Payne DG. Treatment ofsmall cell lung treatment. cancer. In: Roth JA, Ruckdeschel JC, Weisenburger TH, A further course of induction treatment has eds. Thoracic oncology. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1989: 229-62. proved effective in other malignancies, such as 3 Humblet Y, Weynants P, Bosly A, et al. Carboplatin in breast cancer,910 ovarian cancer," multiple association with etoposide and either Adriamycin or epirubicin for untreated small cell lung cancer: a dose myeloma,"2 and Hodgkin's disease.'3 A few escalation study of carboplatin. Med Oncol Tumor studies have indicated that further treatment Pharmacother 1989;6:207-12. with the initial chemotherapeutic regimen 4 Medical Research Council Lung Cancer Working Party. Controlled trial of twelve versus six courses of chemo- may be effective in patients with small cell therapy in the treatment of small cell lung cancer. Br J lung cancer who relapse after a short induc- Cancer 1989;59:584-90. 5 Leonard RCF. Small cell lung cancer [editorial]. Br J Cancer tion course.""'6 The response to initial treat- 1989;59:487-90. ment, the length of remission, and perform- 6 Byrne MJ, van Hazel G, Trotter J, et al. Maintenance http://thorax.bmj.com/ ance status may have prognostic significance in chemotherapy in limited small cell lung cancer: a ran- domised controlled clinical trial. Br J Cancer 1989; this context. As in our cases, the complete 60:413-8.