Randomized controlled trials in Japan--lung cancer

Randomized controlled trials conducted in Japan were reviewed. Using PubMed, 12 papers published after 1990 were selected. Six papers presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology from 1999 to 2002 were also added for use in this review. According to the results of those trials, cisplatin plus either irinotecan or docetaxel for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, cisplatin plus irinotecan for small cell lung cancer and concurrent chemoradiotherapy for a localized disease of both small and non-small cell lung cancers have been established as standard treatments. No adjuvant treatment method for resected patients has been proved to be sufficiently effective.