The Effect of Gefitinib on Treatment Necessity and Prognosis of NSCLC Patients with Early EGFR Mutations

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the need for and prognostic impact of gefitinib on the treatment of patients with early-stage epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Clinical data of patients with stage IB-IIA non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer admitted to our thoracic surgery department from January 2020 to January 2022 were collected, and a total of 94 cases were included, divided into 44 cases in the control group (EGFR mutation-negative) and 50 cases in the experimental group (EGFR mutation-positive (including those on medication (19 cases) and those not on medication (31 cases)) according to the outcome of EGFR mutation. To evaluate the necessity and prognostic effect of gefitinib in the treatment of NSCLC patients with early EGFR mutations. RESULTS: The lung cancer recurrence rate in the experimental group (66.00%) was higher than that in the control group (40.91%), and the difference was statistically significant (χ(2) = 5.937, P=0.015); in the subgroup analysis of the experimental group samples, the pharmacological intervention of gefitinib had a significant effect on lung cancer recurrence (χ(2) = 7.797, P=0.005), and the proportion of lung cancer recurrence in patients not taking the drug (80.65%) was significantly higher than in the drug-taking group (42.11%); the median survival time was 53.6 months using EGFR mutation type as the study factor, with a statistically significant difference in change in 5-year survival rate for EGFR mutation type (χ(2) = 6.095, P=0.047) and the lowest 5-year survival rate for subjects with EGFR mutation type Exon 20 T790M. CONCLUSION: Patients with early gene drive positive lung adenocarcinoma are significantly more likely to recur and metastasise and have shorter survival times in the absence of pharmacological intervention.