Different clinical features between patients with ROS1-positive and ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVE: To compare the baseline clinical characteristics between patients with ROS1-positive and ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the correlations of these subtypes with the distribution of metastases. METHODS: We compared the clinical characteristics and imaging features of patients with ROS1-positive and ALK-positive NSCLC using statistical methods. RESULTS: Data for 232 patients were analyzed. Compared with ALK-positive NSCLC, ROS1-positive NSCLC was more likely to occur in women (71% vs 53%), and primary lesions ≤3 cm were more common in patients with ROS1-positive compared with ALK-positive NSCLC (58% vs 37%). There was no significant difference in the distribution of metastases between the two groups. Subgroup analysis within the ROS1-positive group showed that, compared with primary lesions >3 cm, primary lesions ≤3 cm were more likely to present as peripheral tumors (72% vs 43%) and more likely to exhibit non-solid density (44% vs 4%). CONCLUSIONS: Although ROS1-positive and ALK-positive NSCLCs show similar clinical features, the differences may help clinicians to identify patients requiring further genotyping at initial diagnosis.