Pemetrexed-cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiation after pemetrexed-cisplatin induction in patients with unresectable locally advanced non-squamous NSCLC: results by age subgroup

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CT+RT) is a standard of care for good-performance patients with unresectable stage IIIA/IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).1 2 In a phase II study, treatment with two cycles of pemetrexed-cisplatin (Pem-Cis) induction, followed by full-dose Pem-Cis plus concurrent RT was well tolerated and effective in 90 patients with stage IIIA/IIIB unresectable, non-squamous NSCLC.3 Here, we report by-age subgroup data for 17 elderly (aged >70 years) and 73 non-elderly patients (aged ≤70 years). The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0–1, no prior systemic therapy, adequate pulmonary function (FEV1 >50% and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) >40% of predicted normal value) and a total lung volume to receive at least 20 Gy (V20) of ≤35% were required (patient characteristics: see online supplementary material). Patients received two 3-week cycles of Pem 500 mg/m2 and Cis 75 mg/m2 as per PEM label (vitamin supplementation). Patients with complete response (CR), partial response or stable disease were then eligible for concurrent CT+RT, which included two additional cycles of …