Gefitinib-related interstitial lung disease in Taiwanese patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Gefitinib (Iressa; AstreZeneca, Wilmington, DE) is effective in the treatment of NSCLC, especially in the Asian population. However, ILD is usually a serious pulmonary adverse effect and almost leads to cessation of gefitinib treatment. In this study, we investigated the incidence, clinical features, and prognosis of gefitinib-related ILD in Taiwanese patients with NSCLC.

This was a retrospective observational study conducted in 2 medical centers and a local teaching hospital.

A total of 1080 patients with NSCLC, who received at least 1 dose (250 mg per day) of gefitinib treatment, were enrolled. Of these, 42 patients were diagnosed with ILD. Twenty-five of the 42 patients were diagnosed with gefitinib-related ILD (incidence, 2.3%). The main manifestations of ILD included dyspnea, cough, and hypoxemia. Six of the 25 patients (24%) with gefitinib-related ILD required invasive mechanical ventilation and all patients were treated with steroids. Twenty-two patients (88%) discontinued gefitinib treatment without further rechallenge. Ten (40%) patients died directly from ILD and in-hospital mortality was 52%. Eleven patients received subsequent cytotoxic chemotherapy with a mean of 33.5 days after ILD events. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that gefitinib nonresponder and gefitinib use rather than first-line treatment were associated with poor prognosis when ILD developed during gefitinib treatment.

Taiwanese patients with NSCLC had a relatively high incidence of ILD during gefitinib treatment. Gefitinib-related ILD is usually life-threatening, especially in gefitinib nonresponders and gefitinib use rather than first-line treatment.