Thoracic stereotactic body radiation therapy plus first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutant polymetastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: A propensity-matched retrospective study

The role of thoracic stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in addition to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in EGFR-mutant polymetastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been well established. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of EGFR-TKIs with thoracic SBRT for the treatment of this patient group. Polymetastatic NSCLC was defined as having >5 metastatic lesions. Patients with polymetastatic NSCLC harboring positive EGFR mutations after initial TKI therapy for at least 8 weeks were eligible for SBRT between August 2016and August 2019. Eligible patients were treated with thoracic SBRT, and TKIs were administered for the duration of SBRT and continued after SBRT until they were considered ineffective. The control group was treated with TKI monotherapy. Propensity score matching (ratio of 1:4) was used to account for differences in baseline characteristics. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival, and treatment safety were evaluated. In total, 136 patients were included in the study population. Among them, 120 patients received TKIs alone, and 16 patients received TKIs with thoracic SBRT. The baseline characteristics did not significantly differ between the two cohorts after propensity score matching. The median PFS was 17.8 months in the thoracic SBRT group and 10.8 months in the control group (P = .033). In the multivariate analysis, a Cox regression model showed that thoracic SBRT was an independent statistically significant positive predictor of improved survival, with a hazard ratio of 0.54 (P = .046). We recorded no severe toxic effects or grade 4 to 5 toxicities. Real-world data demonstrate that thoracic SBRT significantly extends PFS in EGFR-mutant polymetastatic NSCLC patients with tolerable toxicity. Given these results, randomized studies are warranted.