Clinical Features and Gene Mutations of Lung Cancer Patients 30 Years of Age or Younger

PURPOSE: Few studies examining the clinical features and gene mutations in lung cancer patients 30 years of age or younger have been published. A trend towards increasing morbidity has been noted in young patients; thus, an urgent need exists to explore this subgroup of patients. METHODS: Patients aged ≤30 years with pathologically diagnosed lung cancer were retrospectively evaluated. We reviewed the clinical features, gene mutations and prognosis of each patient. RESULTS: Forty-one patients were included in this study. The mean age was 26.4±3.5 years. Cough, tightness/dyspnea and chest pain were common symptoms, and 58.5% of patients presented with advanced stages of lung cancer. Adenocarcinoma was the predominant histologic type noted in these young patients. Masses and nodules were the dominant imaging features observed upon lung computed tomography (CT). Thoracic lymphadenopathy occurred very frequently in these patients. Five of 6 patients with echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene fusions presented solid masses with no ground-glass opacity (GGO) and thoracic multifocal lymphadenopathy. Six of 22 (27.2%) cases contained EML4-ALK gene fusions. In addition, 5 of 22 (22.7%) patients harbored epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, and 2 of 17 patients exhibited KRAS and ROS1 gene mutations. The median survival times were 44.2 months for patients with early stage disease and 8 months for patients with advanced NSCLC disease. The one-year and 5-year survival rates were 56.6% and 38.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Increased gene mutation frequencies are noted in these very young lung cancer patients. This finding indicates that the detection of gene mutations in these patients is important and will help to determine the appropriate targeted therapy.