BACKGROUNDTo evaluate the effect of combination chemotherapy with etoposide plus ifosfamide and cisplatin (VIP) for small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

METHODSOne-hundred and twenty patients with localized SCLC who never received chemotherapy were randomly divided into VIP regimen group and EP regimen group. The response and toxicity were evaluated after 3 cycle chemotherapy with VIP or EP respectively. In addition, salvage chemotherapy by VIP was given to 25 patients, who had progression or recurrence of the cancer after treatment with EP regimen, and the response was assessed after 3 cycles of the treatment.

RESULTSIn 118 evaluable patients, response rate was 89.6% for VIP regimen group and 78.3% for EP regimen group. There was no remarkable difference of response rates between the two groups. Toxicity of the two regimens was similar. However, complete response rate for VIP regimen group (43.1%) was significantly higher than that for EP regimen group (25.0%) (P < 0.05). In 23 patients who were progressive or relapsed after treatment with EP regimen, the complete response, partial response, progression and total response were 13.0%, 39.1%, 47.8% and 52.2% respectively.

CONCLUSIONSVIP regimen may be used as the first-line chemotherapy for localized SCLC, its efficacy is superior to that of EP regimen. VIP can also be used as salvage chemotherapy regimen for patients with SCLC who failed to EP regimen chemotherapy.