BACKGROUND: Combination chemotherapy has been the mainstay of treatment for @entity5 ( @entity151 ) over the last 25 years even though it only gives a short prolongation in median survival time. The main goal for these @entity1 , if their survival prognosis is limited, should be adequate palliation with the aim of improving their quality of life. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of chemotherapy in extensive @entity151 compared with best supportive care (BSC) or placebo treatment. SEARCH STRATEGY: Medline (1966-Jan 2003), Embase (1974-Jan 2003), Cancerlit (1993-Jan 2003) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 4, 2002) were searched. In addition experts in the field were contacted to identify further studies not found by electronic searches. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials in which any chemotherapy treatment was compared with a placebo group or best supportive care in @entity1 with extensive stage @entity151 . DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken independently by two reviewers and disagreements were resolved by a third author. Additional information on the included studies was obtained from the author of the original studies. MAIN RESULTS: Only two studies (the first published in 1977 and the second in 1982) met the inclusion criteria of the review. A total of 65 @entity1 with @entity66 (33 in the first study and 32 in the second) were randomised to received either placebo treatment or @entity1260 . In the second study a third arm of comparison included @entity1260 plus CCNU. @entity1260 gave an extra 78.5 days survival (mean survival time) compared with the placebo group. Partial @entity5 response was greater with the active treatment. @entity137 was only seen in the chemotherapy group. Pooled analysis was not possible because only mean survival time was reported in both studies for @entity1 with @entity66 . REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Chemotherapeutic treatment prolongs survival in comparison with placebo in @entity1 with advanced @entity151 . Nevertheless the impact of chemotherapy on quality of life and in @entity1 with poor prognosis is unknown. Well-designed, controlled trials are needed to further evaluate the risks and benefits of different chemotherapeutic schedules in @entity1 with advanced @entity151 .

Chemotherapy versus best supportive care for extensive XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity137 :: ('MESH:D064420', 'Disease') :: ['Toxicity'] @entity66 :: ('MESH:D004194', 'Disease') :: ['extensive disease'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['extensive stage small cell lung cancer', 'tumour'] @entity1260 :: ('MESH:D007069', 'Chemical') :: ['Ifosfamide', 'ifosfamide'] @entity151 :: ('MESH:D055752', 'Disease') :: ['SCLC', 'small cell lung cancer']
@entity151 :: (MESH:D055752,Disease) :: ['small cell lung cancer']
