Treatment outcome of patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer and interstitial pneumonia

Abstract

Background: The standard treatment for unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (LC) is chemoradiation therapy (CRT); however, the optimal treatment for LC in patients with interstitial pneumonia (IP) (LC-IP) has not been determined. This study compared the clinical course of LC-IP patients to that of patients without IP (LC without IP) and determined the key factors of survival.

Methods: We retrieved the records of 52 consecutive LC patients treated at our institution between January 2011 and September 2016. The characteristics and outcomes of LC patients with and without IP were compared. Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and univariate and multivariate analyses of two-year survival were also conducted.

Results: Forty-two men and 10 women were evaluated. Eleven patients (21%) had IP as their underlying disease. Except for age, the backgrounds of LC patients with and without IP were almost identical. Among LC-IP patients, the median predicted forced vital capacity was 86% and the Gender-Age-Physiology (GAP) index was 3. None of the LC-IP patients received CRT but 32 (78%) of the LC without IP patients underwent CRT. Chemotherapy alone was the main treatment for LC-IP. The median survival times were 485 and 1271 days in LC patients with and without IP, respectively (p=0.419). Multivariate analysis of survival longer than two years revealed CRT as the only predictive factor.

Conclusions: CRT was the only predictive factor for longer survival in LC patients; however, no LC-IP patients received CRT, possibly because of the underlying IP.

Keywords: Acute exacerbation; Chemoradiotherapy; Comorbidity; Interstitial lung disease; Non-small cell lung cancer.