Objectives: The incidence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is increasing among the elderly. We studied the toxicity and efficacy of a weekly schedule of gemcitabine and cisplatin in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. Methods: Patients aged 70 years or above with advanced NSCLC were treated in a phase II prospective trial with gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m² and cisplatin 35 mg/m² on days 1, 8 and 15 every 28 days. Results: Forty-eight patients with a median age of 74 years (range 70–78) participated in the study. We observed 14 cases with partial response, 14 with stable disease and 16 with progressive disease, whilst 4 patients were not evaluable. By intention-to-treat analysis, partial response rate was 31.8% whilst progressive disease was 33.3%. Median survival was 9 months; 1-year survival probability was 34.4% and median time to progression was 4 months. Grade III–IV leukopenia was observed in 5/48 patients (10.4%), 20/48 patients (41.7%) had grade III–IV thrombocytopenia and 7/48 patients (14.6%) had grade III–IV anemia. One patient experienced grade III emesis and 2 patients had grade III–IV fatigue. Conclusions: At this dose and schedule the combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin appears to be an active and well-tolerated regimen for elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.

Despite the limitations of the study due to the low response rate, we believe that health professionals should invest on encouraging factors and reduce the deterring factors to optimize screening practices.

e11616 Background: Continuing T beyond progression has become a common strategy in the treatment of human epidermal growth receptor 2- overexpressing (HER2) MBC. However, T administered for several years with concomitant chemotherapy elicits concern about cardiac safety especially in patients (pts) with risk factors. Methods: Cardiac events (CEs) and survival of HER2 MBC pts treated with T +/- chemotherapy at our institution from Dec 2003 to Jun 2012 were evaluated. CEs were graded by NCI-CTCAE v 3.0. Risk factors assessed for cardiotoxicity were: age, body mass index, antihypertensive therapy, history of cardiac disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism, smoking, prior radiotherapy on the chest wall, prior cumulative dose of anthracycline(A), interval between last A dose and first T dose, baseline LVEF, continued/interrupted T exposure, concomitant chemotherapy. Chi-square test was used to compare distribution of CEs over different times of T exposure (p≤ 0.05). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to assess the effect of risk predictors. Results: Sixty-two pts assessable. Median age 52 years (range, 29 to 76), median cumulative time receiving T 29.5 months (range, 3 to 99 months); 40 pts (64.5%) received T without interruption and 19 pts (30.6%) were treated for more than 36 months. CEs occurred in 11 out of all pts (17.7%): grade 1 in 3 pts (4.8%), grade 2 in 5 (8.1%) and grade 3 in 3 (4.8%). The rate of CEs showed no statistically significant difference in pts receiving T for up to 36 months and over: 7/43 (16.3%) and 4/19 (21%), respectively, (p =0.724). In univariate Cox regression analysis significant risk factors were: history of cardiac disease (HR 6,814, 95% CI: 1,384-33,542) and smoking (HR 5,228, 95% CI: 1,403-19,491). In multivariate analysis smoking was the only independent predictor (HR 5,886, 95% CI: 1,479-23,247). Median survival from MBC diagnosis was 50 months (range, 6 to 101 months). Conclusions: Despite the limited sample size, our analysis suggests that cardiotoxicity does not hamper a long-term use of T, since the rate of CEs did not increase in pts treated over 36 months. Moreover, smoking appears to be a predictive factor of T cardiotoxicity.

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