A case of squamous cell lung cancer in a nonsmoking female, successfully treated with docetaxel and cisplatin

A 62-year-old nonsmoking female was admitted to our hospital in May, 1998 complaining of marked cough accompanied by repeated hemosputa. Chest X-ray and CT examinations revealed a large tumor, located adjacent to a cystic lesion in the left lower lung field, in association with a clearly recognizable swelling of the ipsilateral hilar as well as the mediastinal lymph nodes. Sputum cytology after bronchofiberscopy led to the diagnosis that the patient suffered from squamous cell lung cancer of Stage IIIA with bulky N2 (T2N2M0). Chemotherapy was selected as the most reasonable treatment for this patient. The new chemotherapeutic agent docetaxel (60 mg/m2) in combination with cisplatin (CDDP: 80 mg/m2) was tried, resulting in a remarkable reduction in tumor size by 60% after the initial course of chemotherapy was completed, which fulfilled the definition of a partial response (PR). Furthermore, after 4 courses of the chemotherapy, the hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy had conspicuously abated and only scar tissue was visible at the site where the lung cancer was thought to have originally developed. We herein report a case in which squamous cell lung cancer sprouted in a nonsmoking female, who was successfully treated by the combined chemotherapy of docetaxel and CDDP. The present case may suggest the efficacy of newly developed docetaxel in treating non-small cell lung cancer.