Prognostic Factors for Survival in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Sudsawat Laohavinij MD,PhD*, Jedzada Maneechavakajorn MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Medicine, Rajavithi Hospital
Objective : To determine the prognostic value for survival of various pretreatment characteristics and
treatments in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
Patients and Method : The retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the 81 files of advanced NSCLC
patients treated with chemotherapy at the Oncology Unit, Rajavithi Hospital. Eighteen clinical variables
were investigated and analysed as prognostic factors for survival.
Results : The first chemotherapy regimens for the 81 patients included: etoposide plus platinum derivatives
(41), new drugs (taxanes or gemcitabine) plus platinum derivatives (39) and one other platinum based
regimen (1). The overall survival time for all patients was 39.4 weeks with a 95% confidence interval of 30
to 49 weeks.
In the multivariate analysis, male gender, bone metastasis and liver metastasis are poor prognostic
factors. Receiving palliative surgery and achieving objective response to first regimen chemotherapy are
good prognostic factors. Patients who received either old or new drug combinations showed no difference in
their survival as determined by univariate or multivariate analyses which could be due to limitations in the
present retrospective study. However, this may show that regimens consisting of older, less expensive drug
combinations still provide survival advantages in advanced NSCLC and should be considered in limited
financial circumstances.
Keywords : Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Chemotherapy, Prognostic factor
