Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of gefitinib as a first-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: We analyzed 19 patients with advanced NSCLC retrospectively, who were treated with gefitinib as a first-line therapy. These patients were not considered for systemic chemotherapy secondary to co-morbid conditions, poor performance status (PS) or refusal of chemotherapy.
Results: Median age 68 years, male/female 10/9, stage III/IV 7/12, smoker/non-smoker 12/7, adenocarcinoma/non-adeno 13/6, PS 0/1/2/3/4 0/4/7/5/3. Four patients had a partial response and the overall response rate was 21.0%. The median survival time was 6.8 months and 1-year survival was 27%. Overall toxicities were mild. Grade (G) 3 diarrhea was observed in one patient and G1 interstitial pneumonia in one.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that gefitinib is active as a first-line therapy in patients with advanced NSCLC.