ORIGINAL ARTICLE Weekly docetaxel and cisplatin with concomitant radiotherapy in addition to surgery and/or consolidation chemotherapy in stage III non-small cell lung cancer Fatma Sen • Esra Kaytan Saglam • Alper Toker • Sukru Dilege • Ahmet Kizir • Ethem Nezih Oral • Pinar Saip • Barkin Sakallioglu • Erkan Topuz • Adnan Aydiner Received: 9 January 2011 / Accepted: 26 March 2011 / Published online: 17 April 2011 Ó Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and feasibility of a combination of weekly docetaxel and cisplatin administered concomitantly with radiotherapy followed by surgery in addition to consolidation chemo- therapy with docetaxel and cisplatin administered every 3 weeks in stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A total of 31 histologically proven, locally advanced (stage IIIA-N2 = 9, stage IIIB-T4N0-2 = 22) NSCLC patients were investigated. After administration of 4–6 cycles of weekly docetaxel (20 mg/m 2 ) and weekly cisplatin (20 mg/m 2 ) concurrently with radiotherapy, patients underwent operation if their disease was appropri- ately downstaged. Combination chemotherapy with docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 and cisplatin 75 mg/m 2 every 3 weeks was administered as a consolidation regimen. The treatment response, toxicity, time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Results After concomitant chemoradiotherapy, complete response and partial response occurred in 16.1 and 67.7% of patients, respectively. Thirteen percentage of patients pro- gressed on treatment, and 3.2% had stable disease. Grade 3–4 hematologic and skin toxicities did not occur, whereas 17.9% of them experienced grade 3–4 oesophageal toxicity. Grade 3 pulmonary toxicity and grade 3–4 emesis developed in 9.7 and 6.4% of patients, respectively. Thirteen responsive patients (41.9%) underwent surgery. The toxicity of consoli- dation chemotherapy was tolerable. Median OS and TTP were 22 ± 5 (range 13–31) and 12 ± 3 (range 7–17) months, respectively. Median follow-up was 22 (range 2–57) months. Conclusions Weekly administration of docetaxel and cisplatin concurrently with radiotherapy followed by con- solidation chemotherapy is an effective treatment with acceptable toxicity for patients with locally advanced NSCLC especially in combination with surgery. Keywords Cisplatin Á Concomitant chemoradiotherapy Á Consolidation Á Docetaxel Á Locally advanced disease Á Non-small cell lung cancer Á Surgery Introduction Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) usu- ally present with locally advanced, unresectable disease F. Sen (&) Á P. Saip Á E. Topuz Á A. Aydiner Department of Medical Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: fkaragoz_2000@yahoo.com P. Saip e-mail: pinarsaip@gmail.com E. Topuz e-mail: etopuz@istanbul.edu.tr A. Aydiner e-mail: adnanaydiner@superonline.com E. K. Saglam Á A. Kizir Á E. N. Oral Á B. Sakallioglu Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: esrasaglam@gmail.com A. Kizir e-mail: ahmkizir@gmail.com E. N. Oral e-mail: enoral@istanbul.edu.tr A. Toker Á S. Dilege Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: atoker@istanbul.edu.tr S. Dilege e-mail: sdilege@istanbul.edu.tr 123 Cancer Chemother Pharmacol (2011) 68:1497–1505 DOI 10.1007/s00280-011-1642-8