Retrospective analysis of safety and efficacy of low-dose docetaxel 60 mg/m2 in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

The efficacy and toxicity of low-dose docetaxel (60 mg/m2) were evaluated in patients with relapsed non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Docetaxel 60 mg/m2 was infused during 1 hour with no routine premedication, with courses repeated at 3-week intervals. Twenty-seven patients were analyzed retrospectively. The median age was 56 years (range, 32-72); 22 patients (81.5%) had adenocarcinoma, 26 (96.3%) had stage IV disease, and 23 (85.2%) were Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 to 1. Five patients (18.5%) had a partial response. Median progression-free survival time for all patients was 1.9 months, and median survival time was 9.4 months. The predominant toxicity was neutropenia, which was grade III or IV in 63% of patients. No neutropenic fever was observed. Other hematologic toxicities were mild (all grade II). Thus, low-dose docetaxel (60 mg/m2) yielded a response rate comparable to that achieved with moderate- to high-dose docetaxel (75-100 mg/m2) as second-line chemotherapy in platinum-pretreated NSCLC, and had less toxicity. Further investigation of the optimal docetaxel dose as second-line chemotherapy in NSCLC is warranted.