A phase II study of biweekly gemcitabine and carboplatin in completely resected stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer

Purpose We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of biweekly gemcitabine and carboplatin combination treatment in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Patients with completely resected stage IB to IIIA NSCLC were treated with four cycles of gemcitabine (1000 mg/m 2 , days 1 and 15) plus carboplatin [area under the time-concentration curve (AUC) 5 mg/mL/min, day 1] every 4 weeks as adjuvant chemotherapy. Results Forty-three patients were enrolled in this study. The median number of treatment cycles was four. The completion rate of chemotherapy was 79.1%. Major grade 3/4 hematological adverse events included leukocytopenia (27.9%) and neutropenia (53.5%), whereas non-hematological toxicities were generally mild. Ten patients (23.3%) required chemotherapy treatment schedule delay, and one patient required one dose level reduction because of drug fever. Median disease-free survival was 78.6 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 39.5–not reached (NA)] and median overall survival was not reached (95% CI 83.7–NA). Conclusions Biweekly administration of gemcitabine and carboplatin is effective and well tolerated for patients with completely resected NSCLC as an adjuvant chemotherapy.