The following is a summary of “Efficacy of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Primary Driver-Gene-Positive Combined Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Study,” published in the December 2023  issue of Pulmonology by Shi, et al.

A rare type of lung cancer called combined small-cell lung cancer (c-SCLC) with gene changes is often found with adenocarcinoma. There are genetic targets that make targeted treatment more likely to work. But because it’s not common and DNA testing isn’t always done in this way, the effectiveness is still unknown. A total of 31 c-SCLC patients with gene changes were included in the study after the fact and put into groups based on the treatments they received. The results of the treatment were looked at. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and the Log Rank test was used to see how the two groups were compared.

Researchers put the 31 patients into three groups based on their first treatment: group A had chemotherapy (16 patients), group B had targeted monotherapy (7 patients), and group C had targeted combination therapy (8 patients). Three different groups had answer rates of 43.8%, 42.9%, and 62.5%. In that order, the disease control rates (DCR) were 87.5%, 85.7%, and 100%. The average amount of time that the cancer did not get worse was 4.0, 5.0, and 7.93 months (P =.024). There was a significant difference between groups A and C (P =.010). Overall survival (OS) ranged from 14.10 to 17.43 to 12.93 months, with a P value of.313. Later-line targeted treatment was given to seven patients in group A. Out of the 22 patients who got targeted single or combination treatment, 54.5% had an ORR, and 90.9% had a DCR. 

The average PFS was 5.87 months, and the average OS was 17.30 months. Also, side effects (AEs) happened in 53.8% of solo and 88.9% of combination treatments. High transaminases were the most common AEs in solo (23.1%), and anemia was the most common AE in combination treatment (66.7%). TKIs showed promising results in treating c-SCLC with a driver gene. Although solo might be an extra choice, it seems that combining it with chemotherapy is better and more effective.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1525730423001407