Gefitinib in combination with prednisolone to avoid interstitial lung disease during non-small cell lung cancer treatment: A case report

Oncol Lett. 2013 May;5(5):1599-1600. doi: 10.3892/ol.2013.1212. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

Abstract

Gefitinib-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a rare but lethal drug adverse event, which usually leads to the withdrawal of gefitinib and causes complications with anticancer treatment. In this study, gefitinib administration combined with prednisolone in a female with stage IIIb non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) produced a good outcome without inducing ILD. The results suggested that combined administration of gefitinib with glucocorticoids may be an efficient method to treat NSCLC while avoiding complications with ILD.

Keywords: combination treatment; gefitinib; interstitial lung disease; non-small cell lung cancer; prednisolone.