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

Context: The addition of gefitinib to first-line chemotherapy treatment in EGFR mutated patients 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 to determine overall survival (OS) of EGFR mutated adult NSCLC patients after gefitinib treatment. Settings and design: A retrospective observational study was done for 93 advanced NSCLC adult Malaysian patients at Radiotherapy and Oncology Clinic, Hospital Kuala Malaysia. Methods and material: Demographic and medical data were recorded from the patient’s medical record file. Statistical analysis used: Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 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 EGFR gene mutations. Approximately 35.48% (33/93) of the patients were detected to have EGFR mutations in their tumour tissue DNA. EGFR mutations were commonly observed in females, adenocarcinoma, non-smokers, stage IV NSCLC and patients taking first-line gefitinib treatment. Positive EGFR status of adult NSCLC patients was independently associated with intake of gefitinib therapy. There were 19 patients who received 250 mg/day gefitinib as the first-line treatment. The patients with positive EGFR status had 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 survival time after first- line gefitinib treatment. EGFR mutation is an independent prognostic factor for adult NSCLC patients.