Efficacy and safety of amrubicin in patients with advanced or recurrent thymoma.

Abstract

e17513 Background: Thymoma is rare thoracic tumor, which is chemoresponsive with anthracycline or cisplatin-containing regimen in advanced or recurrent setting. Amrubicin is a novel anthracycline agent that is well known to exert significant activity against small-cell lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of amrubicin in patients with advanced or recurrent thymoma. Methods: We reviewed 11 consecutive patients with advanced or recurrent thymoma treated with single-agent amrubicin therapy at our institution from May 2006 to September 2010, retrospectively. Amrubicin was administered intravenously at 40 or 45 mg/m2 on day 1 to 3 of 3-4 weeks until disease progression or development of intolerance. Results: Profile of patients included: median age was 57 years (range 25–74); Male/Female=5/6; PS 0/1= 7/4; and Masaoka stage IVA/IVB/recurrence=7/2/2. All patients had received no prior chemotherapy. The median number of treatment cycles was 4 (range 3-6). A partial response was achieved in 1 patient and 10 patients exhibited stable disease. The overall response rate was 9%, but 3 patients had at least a 20% reduction in tumor size with amrubicin. The median reduction rate in tumor size was 13% (range 0-40). The median progression-free survival period was 5.4 months (range 2.3-15.8 months). The median overall survival has not been reached although a median follow-up time was 2.5 years. Based on the Kaplan-Meier method, the estimated 3-year survival rate was 83%. The most common adverse events were hematological toxicities. Five patients had grade 3/4 neutropenia, but febrile neutropenia was not observed. Non-hematological grade 3 toxicities were less frequent. There were no treatment-related deaths. Conclusions: Single-agent amrubicin showed modest activity and acceptable safety profile as chemotherapy for advanced or recurrent thymoma. Additional testing of amrubicin combined with cisplatin in this disease is warranted.