A Prospective Observational Study on Drug Safety Monitoring and Pharmacoeconomics in Patients with Locally Advanced Unresectable NSCLC in a Tertiary Care Hospital
March 2018
in “
International journal of basic and clinical pharmacology
”
TLDR Carboplatin-paclitaxel is preferred for advanced lung cancer due to its balance of affordability and patient well-being.
The study observed 40 patients with locally advanced unresectable carcinoma lung over 2 months at a tertiary care hospital to monitor adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from chemotherapy and assess the economic burden of treatment. ADRs were graded using WHO guidelines, and patients' performance statuses were evaluated with Zubrod’s performance scale. The results showed that alopecia and peripheral neuropathy were significantly more common in patients treated with the carboplatin-paclitaxel combination than with other regimens (p < 0.005). Cost analysis indicated that while carboplatin-paclitaxel is more affordable than newer, more expensive agents, it is costlier than cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Despite this, the carboplatin-paclitaxel combination maintained a reasonably good performance status in patients. Consequently, the study concluded that carboplatin-paclitaxel is the preferred regimen for palliation in patients with advanced NSCLC, particularly in older patients.
