Third-line Treatment is Associated with Prolonged Survival in Patients with Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Single Center Experience

Abstract

Objectives: The efficacy of third-line (3L) chemotherapy is controversial in patients with extensive-stage small cell lungcancer. In this study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of 3L chemotherapy in our cohort.Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective, cross-sectional, and cohort study. A total of 55 patients were evaluated.Results: Forty-two patients (76.4%) received 3L treatment, whereas 13 patients (23.6%) who required therapy becauseof progressive disease did not receive 3L treatment. The overall response rate was 7.1%. The median progression-freesurvival (PFS) was 2.82 months. The median overall survival (OS) of all patients, patients who received 3L treatment, andpatients who did not receive 3L treatment were 19.97 months, 21.63 months and 14.62 months, respectively. Good performancestatus was detected as a significant univariate parameter for median PFS (p=0.048), but was not meet the statisticalsignificance criteria in multivariate analysis. Receiving 3L treatment and good performance status were the significantparameters for OS both in univariate (p=0.019 and p=0.045) and multivariate analysis (p=0.022 and p=0.048).Conclusion: We demonstrated that receiving 3L treatment and good performance status were associated with increasedOS. In addition, we revealed that good performance status might be associated with prolonged PFS achievedby 3L treatment.