title: [Efficacy and safety of gefitinib in maintenance therapy for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy and safety of gefitinib as maintenance therapy for patient with advanced non-small lung cancer (NSCLC).
  
  
  METHODS
  From Oct. 2002 to Apr. 2006, 173 patients with advanced NSCLC received oral gefitinib 250 mg per day after completion of induction chemotherapy (62 patients, maintenance therapy group) or recurrence after one or more regimens of chemotherapy (111 patients, recurrent group). Median survival (MS) and progress free survival (PFS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the difference between the sub-groups stratified by smoking, pathological type, liver metastasis and gefitinib treatment result.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MS of maintenance therapy group and recurrent group were 25.0 months (95% CI: 19.3-30.7) and 12.5 months (95% CI: 9.3-15.7), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the above two groups (P = 0.0004). PFS of maintenance therapy group and recurrent group was 16.5 months (95% CI: 8.7-24.3) and 9.2 months (95% CI: 7.5-10.9), respectively. There was also a statistically significant difference between these two groups (P = 0. 0000). It was found that median MS in maintenance therapy group was significantly correlated with smoking status, pathology type, liver metastasis and objective response of gefitinib.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maintenance therapy with gefitinib after induction chemotherapy may improve overall survival in patient with non-small cell lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Meng-Zhao
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Long-Yun
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shu-Lan
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-Tong
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Zhang