Background: The phase II NEJ001 trial suggested that gefitinib was active against advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) even in patients with poor performance status (PS). Clinical response among the patients harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation with poor PS is fair; however, gefitinib does not have as much continued efficacy as in patients with good PS. This study has retrospectively investigated the clinical outcomes of gefitinib treated patients with advanced NSCLC, EGFR mutations, and poor PS.
Patients and methods: A total of 208 patients with advanced NSCLC and poor PS treated with gefitinib from 2004 to 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Outcomes were studied after stratification for gender, smoking status, histological subtype, and EGFR mutation status.
Results: Fifty-two patients (25.0%) with advanced NSCLC, EGFR mutation, and poor PS were treated with gefitinib. The overall response rate was 65.4%. The median progression-free survival, median survival time, and one-year survival rate was 6.6 months, 19.6 months, and 62.9%, respectively. Death due to interstitial lung disease occurred in 11.5% of the patient population. In multivariate analysis, a PS of 4 was independently associated with poor outcomes (hazard ratio=10.5; 95% Confidence interval=1.92-50.19; p=0.0091).
Conclusion: Patients with advanced NSCLC, EGFR mutation, and poor PS have poor outcomes in response to gefitinib. However, the indication of gefitinib for such patients will not be changed in clinical practice and oncologists should treat these patients with more careful follow-up since for those with poor PS, therapy may be more toxic than for patients with good PS.
Keywords: EGFR inhibitor; Lung cancer; epidermal growth factor receptor; gefitinib; molecular targeted drug.