Volume 24, Issue 104, July - August, 2020

Pemetrexed-Carboplatin as first-line treatment in elderly patients with stage IV adenocarcinoma lung cancer

Nguyen Thi Thai Hoa¹, Pham Xuan Dung², Huynh Quang Huy^3♦

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Vietnam National Cancer Hospital, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
²Ho Chi Minh city Oncology Hospital, Vietnam.
³Department of Radiology, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Radiology, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam; Email: huyhq@pnt.edu.vn

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In Vietnam, 60-70% of lung cancer is diagnosed at the metastatic stage. Platinum-based doublet chemotherapy plays an important role at this stage. This study aims to describe the clinical, subclinical features and evaluate the overall response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and side effects of treatment using Pemetrexed-Carboplatin regimen for elderly patients with stage IV adenocarcinoma lung cancer. Methods: A single-arm intervention was conducted on 37 patients in Vietnam National Cancer Hospital from January 2017 to June 2019. All patients were intravenously treated with pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 on day 1 followed by intravenously carboplatin area under the curve (AUC) 5 on day 1; every 3 weeks. Results: The mean age was 67 ± 4,1 (60-74); male/female ratio = 2.7/1. The smoking rate was 66.2%; 78% of patients had comorbidity; 56.8% of patients suffered from cardiovascular diseases. The overall response rate (ORR) was 35.1%, and disease control rate (DCR) was 59.5%. The common side effects were at grade 1 or 2, no drug-related death. Conclusion: The Pemetrexed-Carboplatin regimen treating elderly patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma has the same response rate and tolerance similar to other age groups.

Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, pemetrexed, carboplatin, elderly

Medical Science, 2020, 24(104), 1984-1989

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