A randomized controlled study of Shenfu injection combined vinorelbine chemotherapy on the quality of life of elderly non-small cell lung cancer patients / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Background and purpose:Although the third-generation chemotherapeutic agents combined with platinum have shown good effect on non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC),whether the regimen is the best for elderly patients with NSCLC still is controversial.The aim of his study was to investigate the efficacy of Shenfu injection combined with Vinorelbine on the improvement of quality of life(QOL)in elderly NSCLC patients.Methods:A randomized single blind trial method was used.46 patients with stageⅢb-Ⅳof NSCLC were randomly divided into research group and control group.In the research group,the patients were treated with 50 ml of Shenfu injection from day 1 to 14,combined with Vinorelbine(NVB)25 mg/m~2 on day 1 and 8.In the control group,the patients were only treated with NVB 25 mg/m~2 on day 1 and 8.After two cycle's of treatment,QOL,efficacy and toxicity were observed. Results:The QOL was enhanced in both research group and control;however,the difference of KPS after treatment in the research group was markedly higher than in the control(14?10 vs.8?10,t=2.116,P=0.04),improvement rate of QOL was better than in the control(76.2% vs.45.0 %,x~2=4.188,P=0.041),treatment related toxicity in the research group was also markedly lower than that in the control(x~2=3.866,P=0.049),but the difference of efficacy between the two groups was not significant(14.3% vs.15.0%,x~2=0.161,P=0.688).Conclusions:ShenFu injection combined with Vinorelbine could enhance QOL in elderly NSCLC patients.