[Erlotinib as the Second-line Treatment for NSCLC Patients of Stage IIIb/IV.].
BACKGROUND
Erlotinib has begun to show its unique advantage in the past several years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse reactions of erlotinib on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of stage IIIb/IV.


METHODS
Patients with advanced NSCLC ( IIIb/IV stage) were recruited in this study. They had recurrence after receiving at least one or two regimens of platinum-based chemotherapy from March 2007 to January 2009. Erlotinib was given orally to the patients at dose of 150 mg/d, once daily until disease progression. The clinical outcomes and adverse reactions were observed. Patients were followed up. Kaplan-Meier method was used to perform survival analysis.


RESULTS
Among the 16 patients, 0 patients got complete response (0%); 2 patients got partial response (12.5%); 5 stable disease (31.2%) and 9 progressive disease (56.2%). The total response rate (CR+PR) was 12.5% and the disease control rate (including tumor response and stable disease) was 43.7%. All patients were followed up for 1-22 months; 2 cases are still alive until January 2009; the follow-up ratio was 100%. The average survival time could reach 10.25 (3-22) months. The median overall survival period were 9 months and one year progression free survival rate were 13.3%. The main toxicities were rash (93.7%), diarrhea (68.7%), reduced appetite (43.7%) and liver dysfunction (18.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
Erlotnib demonstrated significant anti-tumor activity and a favorable tolerability profile in this series of NSCLC patients.
Li
Tian
T
No.2 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Chest Hopital, Nanjing 210029, China. lltl2003@yahoo.com.cn.