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The use of levamisole as an adjunct to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the lung
Author(s) -
Burdon Jonathan G. W.,
Henderson Margaret M.,
Ainslie Jill,
Ilbery Peter L. T.,
Matthews Jane P.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1983.tb122466.x
Subject(s) - levamisole , medicine , chemotherapy , cyclophosphamide , methotrexate , placebo , vincristine , radiation therapy , immunotherapy , oncology , adjunct , surgery , cancer , pathology , alternative medicine , linguistics , philosophy
To test the efficacy of immunotherapy in the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the lung, patients were allocated at random, in a double‐blind controlled trial, to treatment with either levamisole or placebo as an adjunct to chemotherapy with multiple drugs (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, methotrexate and adriamycin) and to radiotherapy. We report here the results of a pilot study of 13 patients. The median survival period of the patients who were given levamisole was 25 weeks. This was significantly shorten (P<0.05) than that of the patients who were given placebo (46 weeks).