Real-world treatment patterns and outcomes in small-cell lung cancer: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Background: Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 12-15% of lung cancers and is associated with poor survival outcomes and high symptom burden. This study employed a broad, systematic search strategy and timeframe to identify evidence on real-world treatment patterns and outcomes for SCLC outside the USA, including understanding sub-populations such as extensive-stage (ES) or limited-stage (LS) disease. Methods: Databases (MEDLINE, Embase, and EBM reviews) were searched for journal articles published in the English language between 1 January 2000-1 March 2020 and supplemented by hand searching of conference abstracts and posters presented at conferences between 1 January 2016-1 March 2020 reporting real-world treatment outcomes in patients with SCLC. A targeted clinical guideline review was also completed. Results: One-hundred studies provided quantitative data; 57 were available as full-text articles, whilst the remaining 43 were presented as abstracts or posters. The majority (80 studies, 80%) of included studies reported treatment in the first-line setting, where platinum-based chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy was the most commonly used treatment strategy, in line with current treatment guidelines in SCLC. Firstline treatments were found to have a high response rate; however, most patients relapsed early. No studies reported treatment or outcomes with immune-oncology therapies. Second-line treatment options were very limited, and primarily consisted of either re-treatment with first-line regimen or topotecan, but the prognosis for these patients remained poor. Outcomes were particularly poor amongst those with ES or relapsed disease vs. LS disease. Conclusions: SCLC treatment patterns and short survival outcomes have remained constant over the previous 20 years. Due to the search timeframe, none of the studies identified reported on the impact of recently approved immune-oncology therapies in SCLC. Further data is needed on the impact of immunotherapies on treatment patterns and real-world outcomes in SCLC.

Chemotherapy use and outcomes in patients with stage III or IV small-cell lung cancer in relation to age: An analysis of the English Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatment (SACT) dataset

“…22,23 A recent review of real-world evidence of treatment patterns and outcomes reported that these had remained poor over the preceding 20 years but they did not present their results by age. 24 Our results should be interpreted considering contemporary practice. The calendar period of the study pre-dated the routine use of immunotherapy.…”

“…22,23 A recent review of real-world evidence of treatment patterns and outcomes reported that these had remained poor over the preceding 20 years but they did not present their results by age. 24…”

A novel analytical framework for risk stratification of real‐world data using machine learning: A small cell lung cancer study

“…Clinical impact of SCLC covariates on prognosis have previously been studied with Cox regression. 8 , 27 , 28 , 29 In fact, the previous work with this cohort explored hazard ratios of patients with LD/ED receiving chemotherapy. 22 RSF was adopted in this work to compute feature importance of covariates that provided statistical significant hazard ratios.…”

Multi-Omics Integration-Based Prioritisation of Competing Endogenous RNA Regulation Networks in Small Cell Lung Cancer: Molecular Characteristics and Drug Candidates

“…Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly heterogeneous malignancy of neuroendocrine origin accounting for approximately 15% of all cases of lung cancer. SCLC is characterised by the early development of metastases, rapid recurrence and a low survival rate (1)(2)(3)(4). The 5year overall survival rate in SCLC barely reaches 5%, while average overall survival reaches only 2 to 4 months in untreated patients (1,5,6).…”