Purpose: The prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) is unclear. To assess the prognosis of NSCLC patients with ILD treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical course of those with ILD.
Methods: One hundred and four NSCLC patients with ILD treated with platinum-based chemotherapy at Shizuoka Cancer Center between August 2002 and June 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: The combination of carboplatin with paclitaxel was most frequently used as the first-line treatment for NSCLC patients with ILD (61 %). The overall response rate was 38 % in 104 NSCLC patients with ILD treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. In all patients, median progression-free survival and overall survival were 4.8 and 9.9 months, respectively. During first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, 9 % of the 104 patients with ILD developed chemotherapy-related exacerbation of ILD. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that clinical stage was a significantly independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio 0.517; 95 % confidence interval 0.314-0.842, p = 0.0079). Patients with clinical stage IV or recurrence after surgical resection showed poor prognosis (median survival time 8.5 months).
Conclusions: Our study suggests that the prognosis of NSCLC patients with ILD is poor. The risk of exacerbation of ILD in patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy as the first-line treatment was slightly lower than in previous reports.