SCLC RESILIENT STUDY

[katavrga]

Dear Members.

Maybe this was already discussed here, I'm not shure...

My mom aged 60 was diagnosed two years ago with SCLC limited stage (well, barely limited, with limphnode involvement on the other side of the lungs), so underwent carboplatin+etoposide and radiation therapy and was in remission until 5 days ago. A local recurrance of about 2 cm appeared on CT scan and her oncologyst (a great guy by the way) offerd her the chance to enroll in the RESILIENT study for liposomal irinotecan vs topotecan (standard 2nd line therapy in Romania). So here we are, full of questions and so few anwsers, but the most important one would be: is a progression free period (how short it may be) possible after 2nd line therapy or 2nd therapy is only use to limit/slow down the advance of the disease?

Thank you all for your thoughts and please don't mind my written English (my spoken one is worse :))

Kata

 

[Tom Galli]

Kata,

Welcome here. Your English is fine!

You pose a difficult question for all of us with lung cancer regardless of type: is progress free or as we speak of it, stable or no evidence of disease (NED) outcome possible after 2nd line therapy? Progression after treatment is what makes lung cancer, regardless of type, so difficult to treat. Small cell is doubly so.

Yes, a progression free period is possible. How likely is the possibility? Your mom's study is comparing a drug normally used to treat pancreatic cancer (liposomal irinotecan) with the second line standard of care in Romania (topotecan). In the US, we are moving toward a second line standard of combination chemotherapy involving conventional drugs (carboplatin, etoposide and or topotecan) with immunotherapy (nivolumab). Here is more information about treating small cell progression. Studies these days often lead to ground breaking new treatments, and I do hope your mom's is in that category.

Stay the course.

Tom

[katavrga]

Dear Tom. 

Thank you very much for your delicate answer. Let's hope for the best.

Best wishes,

Kata

[LUNGevityKristin]

This trial is happening in the US as well: https://www.cancercenter.com/clinical-trials/lung-cancer-ipsen-resilient , https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.TPS9081

Here is more about treatments for SCLC: https://lungevity.org/for-patients-caregivers/lung-cancer-101/types-of-lung-cancer/small-cell-lung-cancer-sclc