Safety and efficacy of carboplatin plus nab-paclitaxel for treating advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with interstitial lung disease.

There are few established treatments for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with interstitial lung disease (ILD). The safety and efficacy of albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) in combination with carboplatin is uncertain, although the combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel is the most common regimen for treating NSCLC patients with ILD. A total of 9 NSCLC patients with ILD, treated between April 2013 and March 2016, were retrospectively investigated. Carboplatin (AUC 5-6) was administered on day 1 and nab-paclitaxel on days 1, 8 and 15, every 4-6 weeks. The median age of the patients upon initiating chemotherapy was 67 years. The pathological examination revealed 6 patients with squamous cell carcinoma, and 6 patients exhibited the typical pattern of ILD. The response rate was 55.6%, and the median progression-free and overall survival time was 174 and 344 days, respectively. Acute exacerbation of ILD was not observed in any of the patients, and febrile neutropenia developed in 3 patients (3/9, 33.3%). Thus, treatment with carboplatin plus nab-paclitaxel was found to be safe and effective for NSCLC patients with ILD, although management of hematological adverse events, such as febrile neutropenia, was required. However, these encouraging results require confirmation by a large-scale clinical trial.