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Patient Summary: Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation (LACE): A pooled analysis of five randomized clinical trials including 4,584 patients

Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN
Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Last Modified: June 5, 2006

Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation (LACE): A pooled analysis of five randomized clinical trials including 4,584 patients

This study pooled the results (also called meta-analysis) of multiple studies of non small cell lung cancer treated with chemotherapy after surgical resection. In particular, this group looked at studies using cisplatin alone or cisplatin combinations. The patients treated with chemotherapy had a survival advantage of 3.9% at three years over those who did not receive chemotherapy and a 5.3% advantage at five years.

Although chemotherapy resulted in a survival benefit, this benefit varied by stage. Chemotherapy actually resulted in worse outcomes in stage IA patients, had no effect in stage IB patients (consistent with other studies presented at ASCO), and improved survival in stage II and III patients.

The study suggests that the combination of cisplatin and vinorelbine is superior to other combinations, but in this combination, higher doses of cisplatin were given, so more research is needed. This study does not compare cisplatin to carboplatin, which has been an ongoing question in practice.