Targeted therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a real-world setting: A single practice experience

Abstract

Targeted treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with driver aberrations has drastically improved the outcome of a subset of patients. However, for successful adaptation in the clinical routine, many stakeholders are involved, like comprehensive cancer centers, molecular pathology, peripheral hospitals, and oncology practices. Here, we present a single center experience in personalized treatment of lung cancer in Germany. Patients with advanced NSCLC and the need for systemic treatment after identification of a targetable driver mutation have been included in this analysis. Detection of the mutations was performed within a diagnostical network. Treatment was chosen depending on the respective driver mutation. We identified 58 patients (26 male, 32 female) with treatment relevant driver mutations: 33 patients (56.9 %) had an EGFR mutation, nine patients (15.5 %) presented with ALK translocation, five patients (8.6 %) were detected to have BRAF mutations, four had ROS1 translocations (6.9 %) and 8 patients had MET mutations (13.8 % each). In one patient, concomitant BRAF and MET amplifications were detected. 52 patients received targeted therapy. The median overall survival was 35.5 months (95 % CI, 18.0–52.9 months). 32 patients (64 %) received subsequent treatment after initiation of targeted therapy first-line. Our single-center experience demonstrates that advances in the field of targeted NSCLC therapy are quickly incorporated into clinical routine in Germany. Noteworthy, no new safety information was found.