Background: It is not clear whether there is a difference in benefit of chemotherapy between small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients with pre-existing idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with IIPs.
Patients and methods: We performed a retrospective study of the overall survival (OS) between advanced lung cancer patients with IIPs (n=28) and those without IIPs (n=145).
Results: The OS in NSCLC patients with IIPs was shorter than in those without IIPs (median OS, 10.6 vs. 27.9 months, p=0.008) but the OS in SCLC patients with IIPs was not inferior to that of those without IIPs (12.7 vs. 14.8 months, p=0.835). Multivariate analysis showed that the small number of regimens increased the risk of mortality, instead of pre-existing IIPs.
Conclusion: The continuation of chemotherapy in SCLC patients with IIPs made it possible to have a similar prognosis to that in those without IIPs.
Keywords: Small cell lung cancer; drug-induced interstitial lung disease; idiopathic interstitial pneumonia; non-small cell lung cancer; number of regimens.
Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.