RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with irinotecan and cisplatin followed by surgery in treating patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer.
OBJECTIVES: * Evaluate the efficacy of irinotecan based chemotherapy in patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. * Investigate the phenotypic changes induced in the tumor by this treatment. OUTLINE: Patients receive IV cisplatin over 30 minutes followed by IV irinotecan over 30 minutes on days 1, 8, 15, and 22. Treatment repeats every 6 weeks for 3 courses until disease progression. Once potential candidates for resectability are determined, patients undergo thoracotomy or concurrent chemotherapy/radiation therapy within 6 weeks of completing the last course of chemotherapy. Following resection, patients responding to chemotherapy receive 3 additional courses of IV carboplatin and paclitaxel over 3 hours. Patients may undergo local irradiation beginning with the second course of carboplatin and paclitaxel. Chemotherapy ceases if disease remains stable after 8 weeks. Patients are followed every 3 months for the first year after treatment, then every 6 months thereafter for survival. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: This study will accrue 20 patients over 18 months.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Purpose
TREATMENT
Enrollment
10
Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
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