Platinum-based chemotherapy may improve the response rate in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, a new study suggests.

Researchers looking into the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a malignancy that arises from the tissues of the lung, found that one-year survival rates were increased by five per cent with platinum-based regimens.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the research indicates that platinum-based regimens produced higher rates of low blood counts, nausea and vomiting and kidney toxicity, but fevers due to low white blood counts and death rates due to treatment did not increase significantly.

The scientists evaluated a total of 27 randomized trials that included 7,633 patients and concluded that response rates were significantly higher with platinum-based therapy, though one-year survival rates were not significantly impacted.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and Europe and NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer. Under most circumstances, the disease is not curable and treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Chemotherapy with platinum-based drugs, such as cisplatin or carboplatin, is frequently used to treat NSCLC initially, but the drugs can have acute side effects.