INTRODUCTION: We undertook this phase II study to measure postoperative drug delivery and toxicity of cisplatin plus docetaxel in patients with resected stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer. METHODS: The primary endpoint was amount of cisplatin delivered over a planned four cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. Statistical design required a cohort to close if the regimen proved unlikely to improve cisplatin delivery compared with published phase III data. The first cohort was treated with docetaxel 35 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) on days 1, 8, and 15, and cisplatin 80 mg/m2 IV on day 15, every 4 weeks for four planned cycles. A second cohort was treated with docetaxel 75 mg/m2 IV plus cisplatin 80 mg/m2 IV on day 1 every 3 weeks for four planned cycles. RESULTS: Sixteen patients were treated with weekly docetaxel and cisplatin every 4 weeks, with five of 16 (31%) unable to complete three cycles. Subsequently, 11 patients were treated with docetaxel and cisplatin every 3 weeks, with six of 11 (55%) unable to complete three cycles. Among the 11 patients who failed to complete three cycles, the reasons for stopping included one or more of the following: fatigue (n = 8), nausea (n = 4), febrile neutropenia (n = 1), hypotension (n = 1), and nephrotoxicity (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of cisplatin at 80 mg/m2 with docetaxel 35 mg/m2 weekly or 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks is no better tolerated than older chemotherapy regimens. The most common reason to stop chemotherapy was intolerable fatigue. These results suggest that the most common dose-limiting toxicities are attributable to the cisplatin, given similar problems were encountered whether the docetaxel was delivered as a single dose every 3 weeks or as a lower weekly dose.