Abstract
Introduction: Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor, has been shown to benefit lung adenocarcinoma patients when added to standard chemotherapy.
Aims and objectives: To assess the clinical efficacy of Bevacizumab in lung adenocarcinoma stage III-IV when added to standard chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel in a pragmatic tertiary healthcare setting.
Materials and methods: Two groups of consecutive patients with inoperable lung adenocarcinoma were investigated. Group A consisted of 20 patients that received initially carboplatin-paclitaxel with bevacizumab as first line chemotherapy and thereafter bevacizumab alone as maintenance therapy until progression. Group B consisted of 22 patients that received carboplatin-paclitaxel alone. Both groups had similar smoking history and comorbidities. Treatment options were assessed in terms of time to progression and side effects.
Results: Our patient groups consisted of 13 females and 29 males with a mean age of 61.8 years (range 42-82). Twenty seven patients were in stage IV. All patients were ex smokers with equivalence in regard with the smoking habit, the disease stage and the application of radiotherapy between groups A and B. The side effects were similar to both groups of patients (p>0.10). Time to progression was strongly associated with the therapeutic regimens; Group B presented with longer time to progression than Group A (p=0.002).
Conclusions: The addition of bevacizumab to carboplatin-paclitaxel in the treatment of consecutive patients with inoperable lung adenocarcinoma does not seem to confer a significant improvement in progression free survival and response rate.
- © 2011 ERS