RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Many physicians consider platinum-doublet chemotherapy inappropriate for elderly patients, regardless of their medical fitness. OBJECTIVE: This was a retrospective subgroup analysis of data from a multicenter, randomized, phase III clinical trial evaluating pemetrexed + carboplatin versus docetaxel + carboplatin in elderly chemo-naive patients with advanced, nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Data from elderly patients (aged ≥65 years and ≥70 years) were evaluated using the same statistical methods as those used in patients aged <70 years and qualified intent-to-treat (Q-ITT) populations. The primary objective of the clinical trial was comparison of pemetrexed + carboplatin with docetaxel + carboplatin in terms of survival without grade 3 or 4 toxicity in chemo-naive NSCLC patients. RESULTS: The ≥65- and ≥70-year age groups had 68 and 37 patients, respectively. Among patients aged ≥65 years, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for survival without grade 3-4 toxicity (HR 0.40, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.23-0.70) favored pemetrexed + carboplatin; this was similar to the HRs in patients aged ≥70 years (HR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.20-0.92), patients aged <70 years (HR 0.44, 95 % CI 0.32-0.62), and the Q-ITT population (HR 0.45, 95 % CI 0.34-0.61). The median values for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were similar across all age-group subsets and the Q-ITT population. The HRs for OS and PFS were similar for all age-group subsets, except for the ≥70-year age group, which favored pemetrexed + carboplatin to a greater extent. The toxicity profile was similar across age groups, with the exception of diarrhea, mucosal inflammation, and grade 3-4 neutropenia and leukopenia, which were slightly more common in elderly patients in both treatment arms. Between-arm differences in the toxicity profiles for the ≥65-, ≥70- and <70-year age subgroups were similar to those in the Q-ITT population. There were no on-study deaths or unexpected toxicities. CONCLUSION: The benefits of pemetrexed + carboplatin were maintained, and toxicity was manageable in both elderly subgroups. The favorable risk-benefit profile of pemetrexed + carboplatin makes it an appropriate first-line treatment option for elderly patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC.
Assuntos
Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/uso terapêutico , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/efeitos adversos , Carboplatina/administração & dosagem , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Intervalo Livre de Doença , Docetaxel , Feminino , Glutamatos/administração & dosagem , Guanina/administração & dosagem , Guanina/análogos & derivados , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica , Pemetrexede , Modelos de Riscos Proporcionais , Estudos Retrospectivos , Taxa de Sobrevida , Taxoides/administração & dosagem , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: This study compared survival without toxicity in patients with advanced, nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer who were treated with first-line pemetrexed/carboplatin or docetaxel/carboplatin. METHODS: This multicenter, open-label, parallel-group, phase 3 trial comprised patients randomized (1:1) to pemetrexed/carboplatin (n = 128) or docetaxel/carboplatin (n = 132). Patients received treatment on day 1 of each 21-day cycle (maximum of six cycles). Treatment included carboplatin (area under the curve = 5 mg/ml × min) and pemetrexed (500 mg/m(2)) or docetaxel (75 mg/m(2)). The primary outcome measure, survival without treatment-emergent grade 3/4 toxicity, was defined as the time from randomization to the first treatment-emergent grade 3/4 adverse event or death and was analyzed using a log-rank test. The analysis population included 106 patients in the pemetrexed/carboplatin (Pem/Carb) group and 105 patients in the docetaxel/carboplatin (Doc/Carb) group. RESULTS: Survival without treatment-emergent grade 3/4 toxicity was significantly longer in the Pem/Carb versus the Doc/Carb group (log-rank p < 0.001; median survival without treatment-emergent grade 3/4 toxicity: 3.2 versus 0.7 months; adjusted hazard ratio = 0.45 [95% confidence interval: 0.34-0.61]). Overall survival was similar in the Pem/Carb versus the Doc/Carb group (log-rank p = 0.934; median survival: 14.9 versus 14.7 months; adjusted hazard ratio = 0.93 [95% confidence interval: 0.66-1.32]). Compared with the Doc/Carb group, fewer patients in the Pem/Carb group experienced grade 3/4 drug-related, treatment-emergent neutropenia, leukopenia, or febrile neutropenia, and more patients experienced anemia and thrombocytopenia. There were three study drug-related deaths during treatment in each group. CONCLUSIONS: The favorable benefit-to-risk profile of pemetrexed/carboplatin suggests that pemetrexed/carboplatin is an appropriate first-line treatment option for chemonaïve patients with advanced, nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer.