Background: This trial evaluated whether a combination of docetaxel and gemcitabine provides better survival than docetaxel alone in patients with previously treated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Patients and methods: Eligibility included pathologically or cytologically proven NSCLC, failure of one platinum-based regimen, performance status of zero or one, 20-75 years old, and adequate organ function. Patients received docetaxel 60 mg/m(2) (day 1) or docetaxel 60 mg/m(2) (day 8) and gemcitabine 800 mg/m(2) (days 1 and 8), both administered every 21 days until disease progression.
Results: Sixty-five patients participated in each arm. This trial was terminated early due to an unexpected high incidence of interstitial lung disease (ILD) and three treatment-related deaths due to ILD in the combination arm. Docetaxel plus gemcitabine compared with docetaxel-alone patients experienced similar grade and incidence of toxicity, except for ILD. No baseline factor was identified for predicting ILD. Median survival times were 10.3 and 10.1 months (one-sided P = 0.36) for docetaxel plus gemcitabine and docetaxel arms, respectively.
Conclusion: Docetaxel alone is still the standard second-line treatment for NSCLC. The incidence of ILD is higher for docetaxel combined with gemcitabine than for docetaxel alone in patients with previously treated NSCLC.