Efficacy and safety of chemotherapy for newly diagnosed advanced non-small cell lung cancer with venous thromboembolism

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious complication in patients with lung cancer. The benefit of chemotherapy for lung cancer patients with VTE remains unknown. This study was conducted to elucidate the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with VTE. METHODS: Newly diagnosed patients with advanced (i.e. stage IIIB and IV) NSCLC with VTE who received systemic chemotherapy were studied. Response rates, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicity were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In this study, 21 patients who received chemotherapy plus anticoagulation therapy between December 2009 and February 2011 were included. The objective response and disease control rates within the first regimen were 14.29% (3/21) and 76.19 %(16/21), respectively. The median PFS, one-year survival rate, and median OS were 5.50 months, 33.30%, and 8.70 months, respectively. The main grade 3/4 toxicities observed included neutropenia (28.57%), nausea 4 (19.05%), and anemia 2 (9.52%). Major bleeding was not observed. CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy for newly diagnosed patients with advanced NSCLC and VTE was feasible and had acceptable toxicity; however, the survival of these patients remained inferior to that of patients without VTE.