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Procedure Patterns and Survival in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With Malignant Airway Obstruction: A
Septimiu D Murgu1, Meijia Zhou2, Balaji Laxmanan3
1Medicine-Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Background:
Malignant airway obstruction (MAO) is a common, debilitating complication in advanced lung cancer. Therapeutic bronchoscopy is successfully applied to manage MAO. MAO recurs and requires repeat procedures.
Research Question:
What are the patterns of repeat therapeutic bronchoscopy, associated factors of repeat procedures, and overall survival (OS) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and concurrent MAO?
Study Design And Methods:
This retrospective cohort analysis used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare-linked database for patients newly diagnosed with advanced-stage NSCLC (ie, stage III/IV) from 2006 to 2019. Patients aged ≥ 66 years with NSCLC who underwent therapeutic bronchoscopy for MAO within 6 months of diagnosis were identified using procedure codes. The index procedure was categorized as endoluminal therapy, airway stent, airway stent with endoluminal therapy, or photodynamic therapy. Postindex repeat procedure patterns, including incidence, time to first repeat procedure, and unadjusted repeat procedure trends, were examined. OS was assessed by using the Kaplan-Meier method from the date of index therapeutic bronchoscopy over 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years.
Results:
A total of 1,092 patients (excluding 24 who received index photodynamic therapy) with advanced-stage NSCLC (48.9% stage III, 51.1% stage IV) and concurrent MAO were included. Endoluminal therapy was the common index bronchoscopy intervention (71.8%). Overall, the proportion of repeat procedure within 1 year was 25.4%. For those who underwent first repeat procedures, 74.4% had the procedure within 30 days. Endoluminal therapy was frequently used as the repeat procedure modality (85.8%). Repeat procedures decreased from 31.1% in 2006 to 19.8% in 2017. Overall, 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year OS were 44.9%, 29.8%, and 17.1%, with a median OS of 4.5 months.
Interpretation:
This analysis showed that one-fourth of NSCLC patients with MAO underwent repeat therapeutic bronchoscopy, most occurring within 30 days following the initial procedure. Survival outcomes require further exploration to optimize therapeutic opportunities in this population.
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