Anemia is commonly observed in lung cancer patients,and it is mainly caused by chemotherapy.Anemia can cause several debilitating symptoms such as fatigue and tachycardia which will not only influence the patients' quality of life and therapy effect,but also short the survival time.So anemia has been regarded as a poor independent prognostic indicator of the disease.Transfusion the erythrocytes and using the erythropoiesis stimulating agents is the main treatments of the disease.Using the erythropoiesis stimulating agents is the main treatment before the hemoglobin decreasing significantly in order to reduce the times of transfusion.Keeping the hemoglobin between 10.0-12.0 g/dl can improve the patients' quality of life and avoid the adverse events such as thrombus formation at the same time.

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) show good efficacy for the lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations.Chemotherapy drugs are the first choices for the lung cancer patients with EGFR wild-type.In basic research,EGFR-TKIs combination with chemotherapy drugs show good synergy.But in clinical research,the timing of EGFR-TKIs combination with chemotherapy drugs is related to the efficacy.

Objective To observe the short-term efficacy and safety of sequential administration of erlotinib and chemotherapy in unselected, chemonaive patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Previously-untreated patients (n=23) with stage Ⅲ_B/Ⅳ NSCLC and ECOG PS of 0/1 received erlotinib (150 mg/d) on days 15-28 of a 4-week cycle that included gemcitabine (1250 mg/m~2, days 1 and 8), and either cisplatin (75 mg/m~2, day 1) or carboplatin (AUC=5, day 1). The primary end points were tumor response rate and safety. Results 23 patients received a total of 95 cycles of treatment, and all were evaluable for efficacy and toxicity. The overall response rate was 30.4%, 0 case achieved complete responses (CR), 7 cases (30.4%) achieved partial responses (PR), 14 cases (60.9 %) achieved stable disease (SD), 2 cases (8.7 %) achieved progression disease (PD). The disease control rate was 91.3 %. The sequential administration of erlotinib following gemcitabine/platinum chemotherapy was well tolerated. The major grade 3 treatment-related adverse events were eutropenia (13.4%), rash (8.7%), nausea (8.7%) and thrombocytopenia (8.7%). No treatment-related interstitial lung disease. Conclusion equential administration of erlotinib following gemcitabine/platinum chemotherapy was effective, and the toxicity was tolerable. This treatment strategy warrants further investigation.

Objective In view of the controversy over radiotherapy target volume for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer ( SCLC), a prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the impact of different radiotherapy target volumes on prognosis. Methods After 2 cycles of EP chemotherapy,patients without progressive disease were randomly assigned to receive thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) to either the post-or pre-chemotherapy primary tumour extent as study arm or control. Involved field radiotherapy (IFRT) to the entire metastatic lymph node regions was applied for both arms. TRT consisted of 45 Gy/30Fx/19 d administered concurrently with cycle 3 chemotherapy. Prophylactic cranial irradiation was administered to patients achieved complete or partial remission. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Results Between June 2002 and December 2017,159 and 150 patients were randomly assigned to study arm and control respectively. The 1-,2-,and 5-year local/regional control rates were 79. 4%,61. 5% and 60. 1% respectively in the study arm versus 79. 8%,66. 5%,and 57. 3% in the control arm (P=0. 73). The median OS time was 22. 1 months in the study arm (95%CI,18. 2-26. 0 months) and 26. 9 months (95%CI,23. 5-30. 3 months) in the control arm,the 1-,3-,5-,and 7-year OS rates were 81. 1%,31. 6%, 23. 9% and 22. 2% respectively in the study arm versus 85. 3%,36. 6%,26. 1% and 20. 0% in the control arm (P=0. 51).Grade 2-3 acute esophagitis was developed in 32. 9% and 43. 2% of patients respectively in study arm and control arm (P=0. 01),while grade 2-3 pulmonary fibrosis was observed in 2. 0% and 10. 9% of patients ( P= 0. 01 ) respectively. Conclusions For patients with limited-stage SCLC who received induction chemotherapy,thoracic radiotherapy can be limited to post-chemotherapy tumour extent and IFRT can be routinely applied.

BACKGROUNDThe preclinical experiments and several clinical studies showed icotinib, an oral epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in Chinese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who failed previous chemotherapy. We performed a retrospective study of the efficacy and safety of icotinib monotherapy in a different and more recent sample of Chinese patients.

METHODSThe clinical data of 149 patients with advanced NSCLC who were admitted to Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were given icotinib treatment after the failure of previous chemotherapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted based on the Kaplan Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTSThe objective response rate was 33/149 and disease control rate was 105/149. No complete response occurred. Median progression free survival (PFS) with icotinib treatment was 5.03 months (95% CI: 3.51 to 6.55). Median overall survival was 12.3 months (95% CI: 10.68 to 13.92). Multivariate analysis showed that the mutation of EGFR and one regimen of prior chemotherapy were significantly associated with longer PFS. At least one drug related adverse event was observed in 65.8% (98/149) of patients, but mostly grade 1 or 2 and reversible and none grade 4 toxicity.

CONCLUSIONSIcotinib monotherapy is an effective and well tolerated regimen for Chinese patients with NSCLC after the failure of chemotherapy. It is a promising agent and further study with icotinib in properly conducted trials with larger patient samples and other ethnic groups is warranted.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; Crown Ethers ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Quinazolines ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVEThis study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of crizotinib for advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

METHODSTwenty-eight patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC were given orally crizotinib 250 mg b. i.d., and were followed up to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety.

RESULTSAmong the 28 patients, the objective response rate (ORR) was 71.4% (20/28) and disease control rate (DCR) was 92.9% (26/28). Three patients achieved complete response. Seventeen patients had partial response. The most common drug-related adverse events were mild flickering vision and gastrointestinal reaction. Eleven patients experienced flickering vision. Nine patients had nausea and vomiting. Eight patients had diarrhea. They were all reversible and of grade I or II. Only one patient had grade III myelosuppression. Among the 28 patients, 16 cases were disease-free and 12 cases had progressive disease, with a progression-free survival of 8.2 months.

CONCLUSIONSCrizotinib is effective and tolerable in the treatment of advanced ALK-positive NSLCC. However, its long-term treatment efficacy requires to be further studied.

Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; pathology ; Diarrhea ; chemically induced ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; pathology ; Nausea ; chemically induced ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Pyrazoles ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Pyridines ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Vomiting ; chemically induced