Prognostic factor for non-small cell lung cancer with bone metastases at the time of diagnosis

Osteoblastic progression during EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in mutated non-small cell lung cancer: a potential blunder

AIMS AND BACKGROUND

Bone flare reaction as a sign of response to antineoplastic treatment has been redefined, including the onset of new osteoblastic lesions. If misunderstood as skeletal progression, this finding could lead to erroneous therapy discontinuation, changing the disease clinical course. We aim to describe this clinical phenomenon in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene-activating mutations treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed the computed tomography scans of 43 EGFR-mutated patients with NSCLC treated with EGFR-TKI, analyzing the bone response in terms of increase in the quantity and/or density of lesions, and assessing objective tumor response to treatment.

RESULTS

Osteoblastic reaction was detected in 10 cases (23%), showing different patterns: dimensional or density increase of known osteosclerotic metastases (pattern A, n = 4); response of previously lytic lesions (pattern B, n = 2); onset of new osteosclerotic lesions (pattern C, n = 4). Seven patients had partial response to TKI treatment, with response rate of 70%, vs 50% of patients with bone metastases without this reaction. No difference in terms of median overall survival or progression-free survival emerged between patients with or without osteoblastic reaction.

CONCLUSIONS

The correct clinico-radiologic interpretation of osteoblastic reaction is crucial to avoid waste of therapeutic lines when TKI treatment has not yet exhausted its potential effectiveness. Clinical implications of ambiguous radiologic findings as described in this study deserve further discussion.

Prognostic factors and the significance of treatment after recurrence in completely resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to identify the clinicopathologic factors influencing postrecurrence survival (PRS) in and the effect of postrecurrence therapy (PRT) on patients with completely resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS

We reviewed the data of 919 patients in whom complete resection of stage I NSCLC had been performed.

RESULTS

Of the 919 patients, 170 (18.5%) had recurrent disease. Initial PRT was performed in 118 patients (69.1%) (surgery in eight, chemotherapy in 79, radiotherapy in 10, and chemoradiotherapy in 21). On multivariate analyses, PRT (hazard ratio [HR], 0.542; 95% CI, 0.344-0.853; P = .008), female sex (HR, 0.487; 95% CI, 0.297-0.801; P = .005), and differentiation (HR, 1.810; 95% CI, 1.194-2.743; P = .005) demonstrated a statistically significant association with favorable PRS. Bone metastasis (HR, 3.288; 95% CI, 1.783-6.062; P < .001), liver metastasis (HR, 4.518; 95% CI, 1.793-11.379; P = .001), chemotherapy (HR, 0.478; 95% CI, 0.236-0.975; P = .040), epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors treatment (EGFR-TKIs) (HR, 0.460; 95% CI, 0.245-0.862; P = .015), and nonadenocarcinoma (HR, 2.136; 95% CI, 1.273-3.585; P = .004) were independently and significantly associated with PRS in the 118 patients who underwent any PRT. Subgroup analysis with a combination of these five PRS factors in the patients who underwent any PRT revealed median PRS times of 42.4 months for 20 patients lacking all five risk factors and 18.8 months for 98 patients with at least one of these risk factors (P = .001).

CONCLUSIONS

PRT, sex, and differentiation were independently associated with PRS. In the patients who underwent any PRT, PRS was related to EGFR-TKIs, chemotherapy, histology, and initial recurrence sites. One challenge for the future will be to create systematic treatment strategies for recurrent NSCLC according to the risk factor status of individual patients.