Impact of Amrubicin Monotherapy as Second-Line Chemotherapy on Outcomes in Elderly Patients with Relapsed Extensive-Disease Small-Cell Lung Cancer

• Published in: Cancer management and research Vol. 12; pp. 4911 - 4921
• Main Authors: Igawa, Satoshi, Ono, Taihei, Kasajima, Masashi, Manabe, Hideaki, Fukui, Tomoya, Mitsufuji, Hisashi, Yokoba, Masanori, Kubota, Masaru, Katagiri, Masato, Sasaki, Jiichiro, Naoki, Katsuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2020; Dove; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: amrubicin; Atezolizumab; Carboplatin; Chemotherapy; Development and progression; elderly; Elderly patients; Etoposide; Lung cancer; Medical records; modified glasgow prognostic score; Original Research; Patient outcomes; second-line chemotherapy; small cell lung cancer; Japan; amrubicin; small-cell lung cancer; modified Glasgow prognostic score; elderly; second-line chemotherapy
• ISSN: 1179-1322; 1179-1322
• DOI: 10.2147/CMAR.S255552

Amrubicin (AMR) is an anticancer drug for patients with relapsed small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, the efficacy of AMR in elderly patients with relapsed SCLC after chemotherapy by carboplatin plus etoposide (CE) has not been sufficiently evaluated. The medical records of patients with relapsed SCLC who received AMR as second-line chemotherapy were retrospectively reviewed, and their treatment outcomes were evaluated. Forty-one patients with a median age of 76 years were analyzed. The overall response rate was 26.8%. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.5 and 8.1 months, respectively. While the median PFS of 4.7 and 2.8 months in the sensitive relapse and the refractory relapse group differed significantly ( =0.043), respectively, the median OS of 10.7 and 6.8 months in the respective relapse groups did not indicate a statistically significant difference ( =0.24). The median PFS in a group with a modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) of 0 and a group with a mGPS 1 or 2 were 4.5 and 1.6 months ( =0.052), respectively, and the median OS in the respective mGPS groups were 10.7 and 4.4 months ( =0.034). Multivariate analysis identified good performance status, limited disease, and mGPS 0 as favorable independent predictors of PFS and OS of AMR monotherapy. Grade 3 or higher neutropenia was observed in 23 patients (56%), and febrile neutropenia was observed in nine patients (22%). Non-hematological toxic effects were relatively mild, and pneumonitis and treatment-related deaths were not observed. AMR is an effective and feasible regimen for elderly patients with relapsed SCLC after CE therapy.