title: Risk of brain metastasis reduced after erlotinib treatment in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients with sensitive EGFR mutation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brain metastasis (BM) is associated with impaired quality of life and increased mortality. The study aimed to compare BM risk after erlotinib administration and chemotherapy in stage IIIB/IV pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligible patients underwent match pair process with matching factors, including age, sex, performance status score, first-line or second-line treatment, first-line chemotherapy regimen (for the second-line treatment subgroup), stage IIIB or IV, and genotypes of EGFR mutation. BM and mortality risk of both groups were recorded and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total 129 matched pairs were included for analysis. During a median follow-up of 21.5 months, time to BM risk was longer and incidences of BM within 2 years were lower in patients who received erlotinib than chemotherapy in total population, as well as subgroups of first-line treatment, second-line treatment, stage IIIB, stage IV, exon 19 deletion mutation, and exon 21 L858R mutation. Similar overall survival time and 2-year survival rates were seen in two groups totally or in any subgroup. Multivariate analysis showed that BM was retarded in patients who received erlotinib administration (hazard ratio, 1.695; P=0.001) and in patients who were in stage IIIB (hazard ratio, 1.751; P=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Erlotinib administration decreases BM risk in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients harboring sensitive EGFR mutations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ligang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiangjiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: brain metastasis; epidermal growth factor receptor; erlotinib; match pair analysis; pulmonary adenocarcinoma