Preliminary results of phase II trial with combination of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.

7348 Background: Oxaliplatin (L-OHP) is a novel antineoplastic platinum derivative with a DACH carrier ligand. In preclinical studies it appeared to have clinical activity in many tumor cell lines, including some thatnare resistant to cisplatin and carboplatin. Based upon in vitro studies demostrating synergistic anti-tumor acitvity between L-OHP and new citotoxyc drugs, as Gemcitabine, we have conduced a phase II study to evaluate the toxicity and potential synergistic effect by combining the two drugs in elderly patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Methods: 14 chemotherapy naive patients with stage III B and IV NSCLC were enrolled in the study. The patients show these characteristics: 4 females, 10 males, median age 73 years, range 65 - 78, 12 patients with ECOG performance status 0, 2 with ECOG 1. Cancer istotype: 2 adenocarcinoma, 10 squamous cell, 1 large cell, 1 indeterminated carcinoma. 3 patients have bone metastasis, 4 have lung metastasis and 3 with brain lesion. 4,9 cycles for pa...