title: Pretreatment clinical prognostic factors in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with chemotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the influence of potential pre-treatment clinical prognostic factors in stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 285 patients were enrolled in two consecutive prospective randomised studies which compared (study 1) carboplatin and prolonged oral etoposide (group 1; n=58) with the same etoposide alone (group 2; n=59), and (study 2) carboplatin and prolonged oral etoposide (group 1; n=84) with the same carboplatin and high-dose intravenous etoposide (group 2; n=84).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median survival time for all 285 patients was 7 months, while 1- and 2-year survival rates were 29% and 8%, respectively. Age did not impact on outcome ( P=0.21), while female patients did significantly better than male patients ( P<0.0001). Patients with KPS 80-100 did significantly better than those with KPS 50-70 ( P<0.0001), as did patients with less pronounced weight loss ( P<0.0001) and those with only one metastatic site when compared to those having at least two metastatic sites ( P<0.0001). When evaluated regarding the metastatic site, only subcutaneous metastatic site did not influence survival. This was confirmed within univariate analyses, but when multivariate analyses were done gender, KPS, weight loss, number of metastatic sites, presence of liver metastases and presence of brain metastases independently influenced survival, while age and other metastatic locations did not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this analysis, gender, KPS, weight loss, number of metastatic sites, presence of liver metastases and presence of brain metastases independently influenced survival in patients with stage IV NSCLC treated with CHT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Strasse 22, 81675, Munich, Germany. bjeremic@lrz.tu-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Branislav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jeremic
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milicic
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dagovic
authors.forename: Jasna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aleksandrovic
authors.forename: Nebojsa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikolic
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005047:Etoposide; D016190:Carboplatin