Efficacy of rechallenge chemotherapy in patients with sensitive relapsed small cell lung cancer.

Abstract

7088 Background: Treatment efficacy of rechallenge chemotherapy recommended for patients with sensitive-relapse small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has not been fully clarified. Methods: We defined sensitive relapse as treatment-free interval (TFI) ≥ 90 days. Sixty-five sensitive-relapse SCLC patients who received second-line chemotherapy at the Shizuoka Cancer Center between September 2002 and May 2011 were separated into those treated with rechallenge chemotherapy (rechallenge group) and those treated with other regimens (other group) for comparison and analysis of treatment efficacy. Results: No significant differences in age, gender, ECOG performance status at relapse, disease extent at diagnosis, or response to first-line treatment were found between the two groups, but TFI was significantly longer in the rechallenge group, which included 19 sensitive-relapse patients. The other group included 46 sensitive-relapse patients, 21 of whom received amrubicin. There was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the two groups (median survival time (MST): rechallenge group 14.4 months, other group 13.1 months, p = 0.51). In the patients treated with amrubicin, MST was 12.6 months. Comparing the rechallenge group with the patients treated with amrubicin, there was also no significant difference in OS (p = 0.38). Both the rechallenge and other group included 11 patients with ex-sensitive relapse (TFI ≥ 180 days). There was no significant difference in OS between the two groups (MST 15.7 vs. 26.9 months, p = 0.46). Conclusions: Rechallenge chemotherapy did not prove superior to other chemotherapies, suggesting that monotherapy, such as amrubicin, might be reasonable as second-line chemotherapy for sensitive-relapse SCLC patients.