Gefitinib maintenance therapy in chinese advanced-stage lung adenocarcinoma patients with EGFR mutations treated with prior chemotherapy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the response of advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with or without EGFR mutations to platinum-based chemotherapy with or without gefitinib maintenance. Patients were treated with four cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with wild-type EGFR were observed (group 1; n=15). EGFR mutation-positive patients were randomly assigned to observation (group 2; n=7) or gefitinib maintenance (group 3; n=7). The median patient age was 59 years. The 1-year progression-free survival rates in groups 1, 2, and 3 were 6.7%, 28.6%, and 57.1%, respectively (p = 0.049); the 1-year overall survival rates were 53.3%, 57.1 %, and 100%, respectively (p = 0.111). The results indicate that patients with advanced-stage NSCLC with EGFR mutations have a better response to chemotherapy followed by gefitinib than chemotherapy alone and a better response to chemotherapy than wild-type patients.