Microwave ablation or plus monochemotherapy in elderly advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients

To evaluate the efficacy of microwave ablation (MWA) and MWA plus monochemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients with advanced NSCLC aged ≥70 years were retrospectively enrolled. MWA was performed at the primary tumor site. The end points included progression-free survival (PFS), response to MWA and overall survival (OS).

Fifty-four patients were enrolled; of these, 36 received monochemotherapy. Complete ablation was achieved in 42 patients (77.8%). The median PFS and OS were 4.9 months and 21.8 months, respectively. Univariate analyses showed that female patients had superior PFS (31.9 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8-63.0]) vs. 5.0 months in male patients (95% CI: 2.0-8.0), p = .002). Female sex was associated with better OS (not reached vs. 10.8 months, 95% CI: 9.3-12.3, p = .003). Moreover, patients with primary tumor size <3.5 cm had better OS than those with tumor size ≥3.5 cm (not reached vs. 10.9 months, 95% CI: 8.2-13.6, p = .006). Multivariate analyses showed that no characteristics were independent prognostic factors of PFS, but sex and primary tumor size were independent prognostic factors of OS.

MWA was effective in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.