[Limitations of palliative chemotherapy, application to lung cancer: the point of view of hospital pharmacists]. / Limites de la chimiothérapie palliative, application aux cancers bronchiques: point de vue de pharmaciens hospitaliers.

In our hospital, most of the patients with a cancer received palliative chemotherapy. Then, we wanted to know in which conditions these therapies were realised and most specially for patients with lung cancer. We noted the stage of the disease at the diagnosis, the median survival duration after diagnosis and the median time between the last treatment and death. We also noticed the chemotherapy incidents: decrease of dosage, postpone or cancel of a treatment, change of drugs. For the year 2000, 84 patients received chemotherapy, 30 died whom 17 with lung cancer. Diagnosis was done at a metastatic disease (stage IV) in 70.6% of patients with lung cancer. Then, median duration between diagnosis and death is 4 months, median time between last treatment and death is 13 days. Platinium's salts were chiefly used, combined with vinorelbine. 64.7% of patients with lung cancer had either toxicity or outlet, and 70.6% received a chemotherapy treatment during the last month before death. In our hospital, diagnosis of cancers specially lung cancers are late. Then, patients are treated palliatively with a small improvement and a not negligible toxicity. Therefore chemotherapy is carried on, even if it is hopeless.