Survival of gefitinib treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients harbouring EGFR mutations

Context: The addition of gefitinib to first-line chemotherapy treatment in EGFR mutatedpatients may lead to improvement in overall survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Aims: This study aimed to investigate the relationship of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) mutations with clinical features of non-small cell lung cancer patients and todetermine overall survival (OS) of EGFR mutated adult NSCLC patients after gefitinibtreatment.Settings and design: A retrospective observational study was done for 93 advancedNSCLC adult Malaysian patients at Radiotherapy and Oncology Clinic, Hospital KualaLumpur, Malaysia.Methods and material: Demographic and medical data were recorded from the patient’smedical record file. Statistical analysis used: Statistical analysis was performed using SPSSversion 21.0. Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test and Cox regression analysis have been performed.Results: There were 93 adult NSCLC Malaysian patients who were examined for EGFRgene mutations. Approximately 35.48% (33/93) of the patients were detected to haveEGFR mutations in their tumour tissue DNA. EGFR mutations were commonly observedin females, adenocarcinoma, non-smokers, stage IV NSCLC and patients taking first-linegefitinib treatment. Positive EGFR status of adult NSCLC patients was independentlyassociated with intake of gefitinib therapy. There were 19 patients who received 250mg/day gefitinib as the first-line treatment. The patients with positive EGFR statushad increased median survival time as compared than those with negative EGFR status(834.863 vs 246 days).Conclusions: Advanced NSCLC patients with mutated EGFR had a longer median survivaltime after first- line gefitinib treatment. EGFR mutation is an independent prognostic factorfor adult NSCLC patients.