Conditions: Malignant Pleural Effusion Stage IIIB Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Stage IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 55
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This phase II trial studies how well fludeoxyglucose F 18 (FDG)-labeled positron emission tomography (PET) scan works in planning chemotherapy in treating patients with stage IIIB or IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, carboplatin, gemcitabine hydrochloride, and docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Diagnostic imaging procedures, such as FDG-labeled PET scan, may help in guiding chemotherapy and allow doctors to plan better treatment

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Assess the response rate in patients who do not demonstrate an early response to carboplatin/paclitaxel as determined by FDG-PET ("initial non-responders") who are subsequently treated with three additional courses of docetaxel/gemcitabine.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Evaluate the ability of FDG-PET to predict response to therapy as measured by computed tomography (CT).

II. Evaluate the early and late changes in tumor FDG uptake (change in standardized uptake value \[SUV\]) in all patients and correlate with overall survival (OS).

OUTLINE: All patients receive paclitaxel intravenously (IV) over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Patients undergo FDG-PET/CT scan between days 18-21.

Patients are then assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups.

GROUP I (Responders): Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 3 additional courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

GROUP II (Initial non-responders): Patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 8. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo FDG-PET/CT scan between days 18-21 of course 2.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at days 81-84 and then periodically thereafter.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Patients undergo FDG PET/CT (fludeoxyglucose F 18 positron emission tomography/computed tomography) scan between days 18-21. The FDG PET/CT is an imaging biomarker analysis. Patients that are responding to treatment receive paclitaxel IV and carboplatin IV on day 1. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 3 additional courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.Patients that are not responding to chemotherapy per FDG PET then receive gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 8. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Non-responding patients undergo an additional FDG PET/CT scan between days 18-21 of course 2.

Interventions: intervention 1: carboplatin intervention 2: docetaxel intervention 3: gemcitabine hydrochloride intervention 4: paclitaxel intervention 5: computed tomography intervention 6: positron emission tomography intervention 7: fludeoxyglucose F 18 intervention 8: imaging biomarker analysis
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given IV intervention 2: Given IV intervention 3: Given IV intervention 4: Given IV intervention 5: Undergo FDG PET/CT intervention 6: Undergo FDG PET/CT intervention 7: Given IV intervention 8: Correlative studies

Protocol document: