Tuberc Respir Dis.  2018 Apr;81(2):148-155. 10.4046/trd.2017.0090.

Pemetrexed Continuation Maintenance versus Conventional Platinum-Based Doublet Chemotherapy in EGFR-Negative Lung Adenocarcinoma: Retrospective Analysis

• Paik SS
• Hwang IK
• Park MJ
• Lee SH

• KMID: 2420603
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2017.0090

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Although targeted therapy and immuno-oncology have shifted the treatment paradigm for lung cancer, platinum-based combination is still the standard of care for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Pemetrexed continuation maintenance therapy has been approved and increasingly used for patients with nonsquamous NSCLC. However, the efficacy of this strategy has not been proven in patients without driving mutations. The objective of this study was to compare the clinical benefit of pemetrexed continuation maintenance to conventional platinum-based doublet in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-negative lung adenocarcinoma.
METHODS
A total of 114 patients with EGFR-negative lung adenocarcinoma who were treated with platinum doublet were retrospectively enrolled. We compared the survival rates between patients received pemetrexed maintenance after four-cycled pemetrexed/cisplatin and those received at least four-cycled platinum doublet without maintenance chemotherapy as a first-line treatment.
RESULTS
Forty-one patients received pemetrexed maintenance and 73 received conventional platinum doublet. Median progression-free survival (PFS), which was defined as the time from the day of response evaluation after four cycles of chemotherapy to disease progression or death, was significantly higher in the pemetrexed maintenance group compared to conventional group (5.8 months vs. 2.2 months, p<0.001). Median overall survival showed an increasing trend in the pemetrexed maintenance group (22.3 months vs. 16.1 months, p=0.098). Multivariate analyses showed that pemetrexed maintenance chemotherapy was associated with better PFS (hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.87).
CONCLUSION
Compared to conventional platinum-based chemotherapy, premetrexed continuation maintenance treatment is associated with better clinical outcome for the patients with EGFR wild-type lung adenocarcinoma.

Keyword

Lung; Carcinoma; Pemetrexed; Chemotherapy; Platinum; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor

MeSH Terms

Adenocarcinoma*
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
Disease Progression
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Therapy*
Humans
Lung Neoplasms
Lung*
Maintenance Chemotherapy
Multivariate Analysis
Pemetrexed*
Platinum
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Retrospective Studies*
Standard of Care
Survival Rate
Pemetrexed
Platinum
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Kaplan-Meier survival curves for progression-free survival (PFS) (A) and overall survival (OS) (B) in all patients. The p-values were determined using the log-rank test.

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