A trial looking at zoledronic acid for cancer of the lung lining

Cancer type:

Lung cancer

Mesothelioma

Non small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Pilot

This trial looked at using zoledronic acid to help reduce the thickening of, and the amount of fluid made by, the lining covering the lung (the pleura).

More about this trial

In some people with cancer, the lining between the lung and the chest wall can become thicker. For others this lining makes extra fluid which collects in the space between the lung and chest wall (pleural effusion). Both of these can cause breathing problems.

Doctors can drain the excess fluid away by putting a tube into the space between the chest wall and the lung. But the space can fill with fluid again. So they may need to keep putting the tube in, or keep it in to drain the fluid away when necessary.

The researchers who did this trial thought that zoledronic acid might help.

The aims of this trial were to find out if zoledronic acid could:

shrink the thickening of the lining of the lung
reduce the amount of fluid that collects in the space between the lung and chest wall
help improve breathing and quality of life .

Summary of results

The trial team found that having zoledronic acid wasn’t a useful treatment for people with breathlessness caused by excess fluid around the lung.

24 people took part in this trial. They were put into 1 of 2 treatment groups at random.

11 had zoledronic acid
13 had a dummy drug (placebo )

The researchers:

used a number of tools to check how breathless people were after treatment
looked at their scan results
looked at how they rated their quality of life
looked at the side effects

They had the results for 20 people. They found no significant difference between the 2 different groups.

The researchers say that the following factors could have affected these results. The group who had zoledronic acid:

were more breathless at the start of the trial
had more advanced cancer
had a poorer quality of life

They also say that it was the first time zoledronic acid was used for fluid collections around the lungs and only a very small number of people took part.

The researcher concluded that although the treatment didn’t work, there might be possible benefits for certain groups of people. 2 people with pleural mesothelioma Open a glossary item showed a slight benefit from this treatment. But the findings from the study are not good enough to recommend this treatment as an option at present. The research team are currently conducting a feasibility trial in using zoledronic acid for people with mesothelioma who are having chemotherapy.

We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.