Clinical variables describing the natural history and longitudinal therapy outcomes of stage IV anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene rearrangement positive (ALK-positive) NSCLC and their relationship with long-term overall survival (OS) have not previously been described in detail.
Patients with stage IV NSCLC treated with an ALK inhibitor at the University of Colorado Cancer Center from 2009 through November 2017 were identified retrospectively. OS curves were constructed by using Kaplan-Meier methods. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to determine the relationship of variables with OS.
We concluded that patients with stage IV ALK-positive NSCLC can have prolonged OS. Brain metastases at diagnosis of stage IV disease does not influence OS. Having more organs involved with tumor at stage IV presentation is associated with worse outcomes. Prolonged benefit from pemetrexed is associated with better outcomes. READ ARTICLE
Journal of Thoracic Oncology DOI:10.1016/j.jtho.2018.12.014
Authors: Jose M. Pacheco, Dexiang Gao, Derek Smith, Thomas Purcell, Mark Hancock, Paul Bunn, Tyler Robin, Arthur Liu, Sana Karam, Laurie Gaspar, Brian Kavanagh, Chad Rusthoven, Dara Aisner, Robert Doebele, D. Ross Camidge
