title: [Therapeutic effect of erlotinib in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the curative and adverse side effects of erlotinib in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven-two elderly patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC in advanced stage (III or IV) received treatment with oral erlotinib at the daily dose of 150 mg, and the treatment was discontinued until intolerance of the side effects or the occurrence of disease progression.  The clinical effect and adverse side effects of erlotinib were further observed, and the association between clinical characteristics and the response to erlotinib was also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 72 patients, 1 patient achieved complete remission, 8 patients had partial remission, 10 had stable disease, and 7 had progressive disease, with a disease control rate of 72.22%. After a median follow-up time of 17 months (4 to 32 months), the median survival time was 14.5 months (6.5-28.3 months), and the median time to progression was 10.6 months (5-16.5 months). Erlotinib resulted in a significantly higher rate of favorable response in female, non-smoking patients with adenocarcinoma than in male, smoking patients with squamous carcinoma (P<0.05). The occurrence of skin rash was not associated with the response to erlotinib in these patients (P>0.05). The most common drug-related adverse events included skin rash, diarrhea, hepatic dysfunction (GPT elevation), nausea and vomiting, but mostly mild and well tolerable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Erlotinib is safe and effective in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Subei People's Hospital, Yangzhou 225001, China. 835052071@qq.com
authors.forename: Changjiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xizhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000069347:Erlotinib Hydrochloride; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011799:Quinazolines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011799:Quinazolines; D000069347:Erlotinib Hydrochloride