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VIEW ALL NEWSThird-generation chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC linked to better survival
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Recent findings published in the October issue of Thorax suggest an association between utilization of third-generation chemotherapy and slightly increased survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Dr. Christian von Plessen, of Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, and colleagues examined survival among all advanced NSCLC patients in the Cancer Registry of Norway during 1994-2005, before and after the general introduction of vinorelbine as an indicator of modern chemotherapy.
A total of 24,875 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer during the study period, 13,757 of them with advanced NSCLC. The annual utilization of vinorelbine increased from 3.7 g in 1998 to 184.2 g in 2005. The median survival increased from 149 days to 176 days (p < 0.001).
An inverse association was observed between utilization rates of vinorelbine (100 mg per 1000 county inhabitants) and the risk of death (adjusted HR 0.84).
"The results of our study support the hypothesis that modern third-generation chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC is efficacious not only in the setting of formal clinical trials but is also effective in current clinical practice at the population level," the team concludes.
Nonetheless, they say there is room for improvement, pointing out that survival rates are higher in the UK and Sweden than in Norway.
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