Carboplatin with etoposide in patients with extrapulmonary "aggressive" neuroendocrine carcinoma.

e13072 Background: Extrapulmonary rapidly progressive neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) clinically resemble a small cell lung cancer (SCLC), where carboplatin has been reported as active as cisplatin, combined with etoposide. We studied carboplatin/etoposide combination in patients with extrapulmonary clinically/biologically aggressive NECs. Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with histological diagnosis of non-lung non-Merkel cell carcinoma advanced NECs were enrolled, as long as they had a tumor with one or more of the following aspects: poorly differentiated, Ki67 > 20%, or a clear radiological progression within the last three months. Response rate and toxicity were the primary, and time to progression, and overall survival secondary endpoints. Results: All patients were treated with etoposide 100 mg/m2/day over three days, and carboplatin AUC 4-6 day 1, every three weeks. Median age was 60 years (range 15-78). Nine were untreated and 11 pretreated. Three complete responses (15%), 7 partial responses ...