Extensive stage small cell carcinoma of the bronchus - A randomised study of etoposide given orally by one-day or five-day schedule together with intravenous adriamycin and cyclophosphamide

Fifty-four patients whose disease had been staged as extensive small cell carcinoma of the bronchus were randomised to receive either CAV¹ (cyclophosphamide 600 mg m^-2 i.v., adriamycin 50 mg m^-2 i.v., given on day 1, and etoposide 500 mg m^-2 p.o. given on day 3) or CAV⁵ (cyclophosphamide and adriamycin given as for CAV¹, etoposide 500 mg m^-2 given in divided dose over days 3-7) on a 21-day schedule. The two regimens proved comparable (CR+PR 55% vs 56%), and the survival curves were virtually superimposable (median survival: CAV¹, 8 months; CAV⁵, 9 months). Only five patients are still alive. The toxicity of the two treatments was similar. The scheduling of etoposide over 1 or 5 days seemed clinically unimportant in this study, perhaps because of concurrent use of other effective chemotherapy drugs.