Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology of the University Health Network, Princess Margaret Hospital Site and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2011 May;3(3):139-57. doi: 10.1177/1758834011399306.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death in the industrialized world. Despite significant progress in early stage disease, survival rates for advanced disease remain low. Maintenance therapy is a treatment strategy that has been investigated extensively in NSCLC and has been the subject of considerable recent debate. Options for maintenance include continuing the initial combination chemotherapy regimen, continuing only single agent chemotherapy ('continuation maintenance') or introducing a new agent ('switch' maintenance therapy). Therapies that have been studied in this setting in randomized trials to date include chemotherapy, molecularly targeted agents and immunotherapy approaches. Following the development of multiple new agents that show activity in NSCLC, and have a tolerable side-effect profile, there has been increasing interest in utilizing them to maintain response to initial therapy after treatment with platinum-based doublets. Despite considerable controversy, it has become an acceptable treatment paradigm. Here, we briefly outline the evolution of this treatment paradigm and examine which subgroups of patients are most likely to benefit.
非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）是工业化国家癌症死亡的主要原因。尽管在早期疾病方面取得了重大进展，但晚期疾病的存活率仍然很低。维持治疗是一种在 NSCLC 中广泛研究的治疗策略，也是最近相当多争议的主题。维持治疗的选择包括继续初始联合化疗方案、仅继续单药化疗（“延续维持”）或引入新药物（“转换”维持治疗）。迄今为止，在随机试验中研究的这一治疗方案包括化疗、分子靶向药物和免疫治疗方法。在开发出多种在 NSCLC 中显示活性且副作用可耐受的新药物后，人们越来越有兴趣在使用这些药物在含铂双药治疗后维持对初始治疗的反应。尽管存在很大争议，但这已成为一种可接受的治疗模式。在这里，我们简要概述了这种治疗模式的演变，并研究了哪些亚组患者最有可能受益。
