Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Comparison of gemcitabine/carboplatin versus paclitaxel/cisplatin for the management of non-small cell lung cancer

Wei Wang¹, Wenli Li², Lili Dai³, Lei Zhao², Kaixin Qu¹

¹Department of Respiratory Medicine, Funan County People's Hospital, Fuyang, China; ²Department of Respiratory Medicine, Fuyang Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Fuyang, China; ³Department of Geriatrics, Funan County People's Hospital, Fuyang, China.

For correspondence:- Kaixin Qu Email: qukaixin19770418@163.com Tel:+8617755806231

Accepted: 29 July 2022 Published: 29 August 2022

Citation: Wang W, Li W, Dai L, Zhao L, Qu K. Comparison of gemcitabine/carboplatin versus paclitaxel/cisplatin for the management of non-small cell lung cancer. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(8):1763-1770 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i8.25

© 2022 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the comparative efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine/carboplatin and paclitaxel/cisplatin in patients with completely resected stage IIa - IIIa non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Sixty eligible NSCLC patients treated in Funan County People's Hospital were enrolled and assigned to two groups by randomization (n = 30 each). One group (CG group) received the combination of gemcitabine and carboplatin, while the second group (CP group) received a combination of cisplatin and paclitaxel. Efficacy was assessed based on 2-year progression-free survival, while adverse reactions were recorded to assess the toxicity of the chemotherapy treatments.

Results: No marked difference was found in the 2-year relapse-free survival in the two groups with similar clinical baseline characteristics after follow-up (60 % in CG group vs. 56.67 % in CP group, p = 0.826). Specifically, no significant difference was found between the two groups with regard to incidence of local metastases, distant metastases, or brain tissue metastases within 2 years, and there were no treatment-related deaths. CG group was more likely to develop leukopenia (93.33 % vs. 63.33 % for CP group, p = 0.04), but no significant difference was observed for other adverse effects such as anemia, vomiting, and nausea.

Conclusion: This study shows that adjuvant treatment using carboplatin and gemcitabine produces the same therapeutic efficacy as cisplatin and paclitaxel, but exhibits higher toxicity levels than the latter.

Keywords: Non-small cell lung cancer, Carboplatin, Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, Paclitaxel, Metastasis, Leukopenia