Gefitinib in first-line therapy for 34 cases of advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Background and purpose:It has been proven that gefitinib can be safely and efficiently used to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as a molecule targeted drug. This research was aimed to investigate the efficacy and toxicity of gefitinib as the first-line therapy for advanced NSCLC. Methods:A total of 34 pathologically-confirmed NSCLC patients who were not willing to receive or tolerate traditional cytotoxic drug chemotherapy were enrolled into the study. Gefitinib was orally administered 250 mg daily until disease progression or the occurrence ofintolerable toxicity. Results:The objective response rate of gefitinib was 29.4%. The disease control rate was 61.8%. The rate of symptom relief was 47.1%. The median progression-free survival was 3.0 months. The median overall survival was 10.2 months. One-year survival rate was 35.3%. The objective response rate of non-smoker was higher than smoker (P=0.023). The disease control rate for the patients with rash toxicity after administration of the drug were higher than those without rash (P=0.005). Logistic regression showed that rash was an independent disease control factor (P=0.003). The most common drug-related adverse events were rash and diarrhea. Conclusion: Gefitinib provided another choice to patients who are unwilling or unable to be treated by chemotherapy.