In response to increasing pressure on inpatient services and a meta-analysis indicating that cisplatin (C) is superior to carboplatin, we report a phase II trial of gemcitabine (G) and split-dose C in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in an outpatient setting. Patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC received: G/C 1250/40 mg/m2; G and C were given on day (d) 1 and d8 in a 21d cycle. Patients with performance status 0-2, adequate bone marrow function and calculated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) >50 ml/min were eligible. Forty-two patients were enrolled: 25 male; median age 62 (range 37-78) years. There were 26 patients (62%) with stage IV disease. One hundred and thirty-eight cycles of chemotherapy were delivered. Chemotherapy was well tolerated, allowing maintenance of planned dose intensity (DI) with mean dose delivered of 780.1 mg/m2 (93%) and 25.6 mg/m2 (96%) for G and C, respectively. The overall response rate was 43%. Median survival was 12.5 months with a median follow-up of 13.5 months. One year survival rate was 51%. G plus C both given on d1 and d8 (q21d) is a very active, well tolerated and convenient outpatient schedule, which maintains DI.

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