Is cisplatin still the best platinum compound in non-small-cell lung cancer?
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in industrialized countries and is therefore a major health problem for western societies [1]. In the past, the role of chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been extensively debated and the lack of activity of most cytotoxic compounds, used as single agents or in combination, led a large part of the medical community to refute chemotherapy for patients with NSCLC. Nevertheless, anecdotical reports and occasional prospective studies suggested a potential benefit of chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC in the 1970s. In fact, the era of chemotherapy in NSCLC began with the introduction of cisplatin in this setting, despite studies suggesting a poorly encouraging activity/toxicity ratio [2]. First generation phase III studies using cisplatin-based doublets reported encouraging and sometimes statistically significant survival benefits when compared with best supportive care (BSC) [3]. However, it took almost 20 . . .
