OBJECTIVETo observe the curative and adverse side effects of erlotinib in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODSSeven-two elderly patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC in advanced stage (III or IV) received treatment with oral erlotinib at the daily dose of 150 mg, and the treatment was discontinued until intolerance of the side effects or the occurrence of disease progression. The clinical effect and adverse side effects of erlotinib were further observed, and the association between clinical characteristics and the response to erlotinib was also analyzed.

RESULTSAmong the 72 patients, 1 patient achieved complete remission, 8 patients had partial remission, 10 had stable disease, and 7 had progressive disease, with a disease control rate of 72.22%. After a median follow-up time of 17 months (4 to 32 months), the median survival time was 14.5 months (6.5-28.3 months), and the median time to progression was 10.6 months (5-16.5 months). Erlotinib resulted in a significantly higher rate of favorable response in female, non-smoking patients with adenocarcinoma than in male, smoking patients with squamous carcinoma (P<0.05). The occurrence of skin rash was not associated with the response to erlotinib in these patients (P>0.05). The most common drug-related adverse events included skin rash, diarrhea, hepatic dysfunction (GPT elevation), nausea and vomiting, but mostly mild and well tolerable.

CONCLUSIONErlotinib is safe and effective in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.