Published online Nov 28, 2013. doi: 10.5320/wjr.v3.i3.110
Revised: September 25, 2013
Accepted: October 11, 2013
Published online: November 28, 2013
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AIM: To evaluate the prognostic factors of long-term survival of more than 3 years in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 474 patients with advanced IIIB/IV NSCLC who received chemotherapy as initial treatment between September 2002 and March 2007.
RESULTS: The median survival time (MST) was 12.5 mo and the 3 year and 5 year survival rates were 14.6% and 5.3%, respectively. Long-term survival of more than 3 and 5 years was observed in 65 and 16 patients, respectively. The MST for the 65 patients was 61.5 mo (range, 60.1-81.0 mo). In the 474 patients, a good performance status (PS), female sex, non-smoking status and adenocarcinoma histology were significantly associated with a favorable outcome. Furthermore, female sex, a good PS, non-smoking status and adenocarcinoma histology were significantly correlated with long-term survival of more than 3 years and most of these patients (89.2%, 58/65) received epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors as any line treatment. Survival analysis of long-term survivors showed that a PS of 0 was an independent prognostic factor for predicting favorable outcomes.
CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a good PS and adenocarcinoma histology play an important role in long-term survival of more than 3 years. A PS of 0 was an independent prognostic factor for predicting favorable outcomes in patients with advanced NSCLC who survived for more than 3 years.
Core tip: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic factors of long-term survival of more than 3 years in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Female sex, good performance status (PS), non-smoker and adenocarcinoma were significantly associated with long-term survivors of more than 3 years and most patients received epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI) at any line treatment. PS of 0 was an independent prognostic factor for predicting favorable prognosis in the long-term survivors of more than 3 years. PS of 0, adenocarcinoma and EGFR-TKI therapy play an important role in the long-term survivors.