Prognostic factors for second-line chemotherapy of metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND

Few studies have been conduct¬ed to determine prognostic factors of second-line chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic factors for survival in patients receiving second-line treatment for advanced NSCLC.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed the records of 71 patients with metastatic NSCLC who received second-line chemotherapy from January 2006 to January 2013.

RESULTS

The mean age was 57 years. All patients were male. The performance status was 0 or 1 in 90.1% of cases. Sixty-four patients received a first line platinum-based chemotherapy. The second line chemotherapy regimen was docetaxel in 31 cases and pemetrexed in 18 cases. Fourteen patients (19.71%) had received third-line chemotherapy. The median overall survival was 13.5 months. Age older than 65 years (p=0.025), advanced T stage (T4 versus T3 and T2; p=0.01), advanced N stage (N3 versus N2 and N1; p=0.001), lower level hemoglobin (p=0.05) and non-responders who showed progression with first-line chemotherapy (p=0.04) were significant negative predictors in univariate analysis for overall survival (OS). The multivariate analysis showed that age≥ 65 years (HR=2.15; 95% CI[1.26-2.44]), advanced N stage (HR=2.273; 95% CI [1.26-2.44]) were independent prognostic factors for OS.

CONCLUSION

Age and advanced N stage were important factors in predicting the outcome of advanced NSCLC patients who were undergoing second-line chemotherapy.