Cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and etoposide as first-line therapy in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer.

The discovery that etoposide is one of the most active drugs in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) led to its incorporation into a number of first-line combination chemotherapy regimens. The cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/etoposide (CAE) regimen was shown to be as active or more active than other standard regimens in nonrandomized studies. In a randomized study presented in this report, the CAE regimen was significantly superior to the cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine (CAV) regimen for response duration and survival in extensive-stage patients. In limited-stage patients the results were slightly better with CAE. In addition, CAE lacked the neurotoxicity of CAV.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes