Background: Gemcitabine and carboplatin combination is widely used as one of the first-line chemotherapeutic regimens in patients with metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer patients.
Methodology: A total of 112 patients with metastatic disease were recruited. They were on standard 21-day gemcitabine 1.2 g/m2 and carboplatin AUC 5 dosing schedule. Each patient received at least four cycles and a maximum of 6 cycles of treatment. The patients were followed up, and the demographic, efficacy and toxicity profiles were analyzed.
Result: The mean age was 53.81±9.85 with 71 male and 41 female patients. Response assessment was done in 82 patients, and the objective response rate was found to be 47.6% with 39 partial responders, 20 patients with stable disease and 23 patients with progressive disease. The median overall survival was 12 months (95% CI 9.89-14.11). We found anemia (62.5%) to be more prominent than the other toxicities followed by thrombocytopenia and vomiting (31.3%). The nonhematological toxicities were minimal and manageable.
Conclusion: Treatment with gemcitabine and carboplatin is efficacious with manageable toxicity profile in the real world non-clinical trial setting.