Higher Doses of Chemotherapy Make No Difference in Small Cell Lung Cancer

After several cancer treatment centers spent several years researching the subject, this week it was decided that increasing the dose of chemotherapy by up to three times the standard amount did nothing to improve three year survival rates for those suffering from small cell lung cancer.

Currently, almost 13 percent of all patients with lung cancer in the United States have small cell variety. While many people respond well to chemotherapy, the disease commonly comes back within just a few years. Previously, doctors thought that increasing the dose of chemotherapy would work to more aggressively target cancer cells that the regular doses had missed.

Dr. Serge Leyvraz from the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, spearheaded the investigation to see if the higher doses would have more of an impact on the hard to reach cells. 140 patients with small cell lung cancers were enrolled in the study, with some receiving regular doses and the other receiving far higher amounts of the chemotherapy agents carboplatin, ifosfamide and etoposide (ICE).

The doctors explained in a written statement that "the approach explored in the present trial succeeded in raising the peak dose, total dose and dose intensity of ICE by threefold but has clearly been ineffective and highly toxic. As a result, this strategy should be abandoned."

The results of the study showed that both sets of patients, those receiving higher doses and those receiving normal ICE doses, had very similar three year survival rates. Although the patients who were given higher doses saw their tumors shrink an average of 10 percent more their regular dose counterparts, it was decided that the difference was not statistically significant.

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