Gefitinib is active in patients with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer and response is related to skin toxicity

• Published in: Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2005, Vol.47 (1), p.129-138
• Main Authors: Chiu, Chao-Hua, Tsai, Chun-Ming, Chen, Yuh-Min, Chiang, Shu-Chen, Liou, Jia-Ling, Perng, Reury-Perng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Agents - adverse effects; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Brain metastasis; Brain Neoplasms - drug therapy; Brain Neoplasms - secondary; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - secondary; Female; Gefitinib; Humans; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurology; Non-small cell lung cancer; Pneumology; Quinazolines - administration & dosage; Quinazolines - adverse effects; Quinazolines - therapeutic use; Skin toxicity; Treatment Outcome; Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses; Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum
• ISSN: 0169-5002; 1872-8332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2004.05.014

Gefitinib is active and well tolerated in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, its role in patients with brain metastases has not been clearly defined. We had conducted a prospective study to give gefitinib to NSCLC patients irrespective of their performance status (PS), number of prior treatment regimens and the presence of brain metastases. A total of 76 patients were enrolled. Fifty-seven patients had measurable lesions and the objective response rate was 33.3% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 20.7–46.0%). For all enrolled patients, the disease control rate was 63.2% (95% CI, 52.1–74.3%) with a median progression-free survival of 5.0 months (95% CI, 3.6–6.5 months) and median overall survival 9.9 months (95% CI, 4.9–14.8 months). Twenty-one patients had simultaneously assessable intracranial lesions (ICLs) and extracranial lesions (ECLs), 17 of them (81.0%) showed comparable tumor response. There was no survival difference between the patients with and without metastatic brain disease. Most drug-related adverse events were mild. Intolerable toxicities happened in five patients, four of them were interstitial pneumonia (5.8%). Severity of skin toxicity was tightly associated with tumor response and patient survival ( P = 0.007 and