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R. Zarychanski



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    MINI 07 - ChemoRT and Translational Science (ID 110)

    • Event: WCLC 2015
    • Type: Mini Oral
    • Track: Treatment of Locoregional Disease – NSCLC
    • Presentations: 1
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      MINI07.02 - Chemoradiotherapy versus Radiotherapy Alone in Elderly Patients with Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review (ID 3163)

      16:45 - 18:15  |  Author(s): R. Zarychanski

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background:
      Approximately 30% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with locally advanced (stage III) disease, and half are elderly (age ≥70). Young, fit patients with stage III NSCLC have improved survival with the use of combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT) over radiation therapy (RT) alone – HR 0.74 in a 2010 Cochrane systematic review. Elderly patients have more comorbid illnesses and suffer greater treatment toxicity, thus it is unclear whether they benefit more from CRT over RT. The objective of this systematic review is to explore the evidence base for using CRT in elderly patients with stage III NSCLC.

      Methods:
      We performed a systematic review including trials identified in MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases from inception to March 8, 2015, plus relevant conference proceedings since 2000. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of elderly patients (≥70 years old) with stage III NSCLC or elderly subgroups from individual patient meta-analyses comparing CRT versus RT alone. We excluded studies that treated patients with palliative intent, included surgical patients, or in which both arms received chemotherapy. We did not restrict language. Two reviewers independently extracted summary outcome data. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. We used a random effects model and inverse variance method to pool time-to-event outcomes. We calculated Peto Odds Ratios (POR) using RevMan 5.3 to pool dichotomous outcomes with a zero cell and otherwise calculated Risk Ratios (RR).

      Results:
      We screened 2951 citations identifying 68 articles for full text evaluation, 16 of which have not been accessible yet. Four reports of three studies met inclusion criteria (n = 407 elderly patients). All trials were evaluated as having a high risk of bias due primarily to lack of blinding. Overall survival in elderly patients was superior in those treated with CRT compared to RT (HR 0.66, 95%CI 0.53 to 0.82, I[2] 0%, p 0.0009). Progression-free survival was also improved with CRT (HR 0.67, 95%CI 0.53 to 0.85, I[2] 0%, p 0.001). Toxicity assessments were available in two studies with 119 patients receiving CRT and 121 RT. Treatment-related death occurred in 6 (5%) with CRT and 5 (4%) with RT (RR 1.22, 95%CI 0.38 to 3.88) and grade ≥3 pneumonitis was seen in 6 patients in each group, (RR 1.01, 95%CI 0.34 to 3.06) – neither was significantly different between treatments. Neutropenia – 57% v 2% (POR 14.38, 95%CI 8.26 to 25.04) and thrombocytopenia – 30% v 3% (RR 7.62, 95%CI 2.09 to 27.79) were more common with CRT. Febrile neutropenia occurred in 3 (2.5%) patients with CRT and zero patients with RT, but this did not meet significance (POR 7.54, 95%CI 0.78 to 72.82). No studies included patient-reported quality of life.

      Conclusion:
      CRT in elderly patients with stage III NSCLC results in improved survival as compared to RT alone, at the expense of increased treatment-related hematologic toxicity. Quality of life assessment should be included in any future trial design. CRT can be considered for fit patients ≥70 years of age with stage III NSCLC.

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