A text-mining approach to study the real-world effectiveness and potentially fatal immune-related adverse events of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors in older patients with stage III/IV non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the impact of age on the effectiveness and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) of programmed death-(ligand)1 [PD-(L)1] inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using a novel text-mining technique. METHODS: This retrospective study included patients with stage III/IV NSCLC treated with a PD-(L)1 inhibitor (nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab and durvalumab) at Leiden University Medical Centre and Haga Teaching hospital, (both in The Netherlands) from September 2016 to May 2021. All the relevant data was extracted from the structured and unstructured fields of the Electronic Health Records using a novel text-mining tool. Effectiveness [progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS)] and safety (the incidence of nine potentially fatal irAEs and systemic corticosteroid requirement) outcomes were compared across age subgroups (young: < 65 years, Middle-aged: 65-74 years, and old: ≥ 75 years) after adjustment for confounding. RESULTS: Of 689 patients, 310 patients (45.0%) were < 65 years, 275 patients (39.9%) were aged between 65 and 74 years, and 104 patients (15.1%) were ≥ 75 years. There was no significant difference between younger and older patients regarding PFS (median PFS 12, 8, 13 months respectively; Hazard ratio (HR)middle-aged = 1.14, 95% CI 0.92-1.41; HRold = 1.10, 95% CI 0.78-1.42). This was also the case for OS (median OS 19, 14, 18 months respectively; HRmiddle-aged = 1.22, 95% CI 0.96-1.53; HRold = 1.10, 95% CI 0.79-1.52). Safety analysis demonstrated a higher incidence of pneumonitis among patients aged 65-74. When all the investigated irAEs were pooled, there was no statistically significant difference found between age and the incidence of potentially fatal irAEs. CONCLUSIONS: The use of PD-(L)1 inhibitors is not associated with age related decrease of PFS and OS, nor with increased incidence of serious irAEs compared to younger patients receiving these treatments. Chronological age must therefore not be used as a predictor for the effectiveness or safety of ICIs.

Distress in suspected lung cancer patients following rapid and standard diagnostic programs: a prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: Timeliness may influence emotional distress during the diagnostic phase of suspected lung cancer patients. We performed a prospective observational study to compare distress and quality of life (QoL) in two medical centres with a Rapid Outpatient Diagnostic Program (RODP) and two using conventional Stepwise Diagnostic Approach (SDA) on the basis of trained nurse-led care. METHODS: Outpatients with radiological suspicion of lung cancer completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-item Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and its 13-item Lung Cancer specific module (QLQ-LC13) upon first visit, 2 days later, thereafter weekly for 5 weeks and after 3 months. RESULTS: The 72 SDA patients and 121 RODP patients had a mean pre-diagnostic HADS-total score of 13.5 (SD 7.6); 63.4% had a score ≥10. Baseline QLQ-C30 global QoL was 61.6 (SD 22.7) exceeding reference values for lung cancer patients. Generalized least square models showed a significant centre by time interaction effect: during the first 6 weeks, HADS-total scores decreased in RODP patients (13.8-11.9) but sustained in SDA patients (13.1-13.6), whereas QoL showed no relevant changes. Times to diagnosis and discussion of therapy plan for RODP patients were 7 and 11 days shorter, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Suspected lung cancer patients had high baseline distress levels. A decrease over time was found in RODP compared with SDA patients. QoL did not change relevantly. Albeit observational, these data indicate that patients experience less distress in rapid diagnostic programs than in stepwise diagnostic evaluation.

High performance of F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and contrast-enhanced CT in a rapid outpatient diagnostic program for patients with suspected lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic evaluation of patients presenting with possible lung cancer is often complex and time consuming. A rapid outpatient diagnostic program (RODP) including (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) as a routine diagnostic tool may improve timeliness, however the diagnostic performance of such a combined approach of RODP remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated timeliness of care and diagnostic performance of FDG-PET and contrast-enhanced CT (FDG-PET/CT) in an RODP for all patients referred with a chest X-ray suspicious of lung cancer. METHODS: Charts of patients referred to the 2-day RODP of our tertiary care university clinic after an abnormal chest X-ray between 1999 and 2009 were reviewed. Between 1999 and 2005 co-registered FDG-PET and CT imaging took place; from September 2005 onwards, a hybrid system was used. We analyzed timeliness of care and diagnostic performance of FDG-PET/CT to differentiate malignant from benign lesions. RESULTS: In 386 patients available for analysis, 260 were diagnosed with lung cancer and 23 had another type of malignancy; in 78 patients benign disease was confirmed, and in another 45 the diagnosis was not pathologically confirmed but a median 24.5-month follow-up confirmed a benign outcome. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values and accuracy of FDG-PET/CT to differentiate lung cancer from benign disease were 97.7, 60.2, 92.5, 84.0 and 85.8%, respectively. Lung cancer patients had a median referral, diagnostic and therapeutic delay of 7, 2 and 19 days, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: FDG-PET/CT in an RODP setting for suspected lung cancer has high performance in detecting cancer and facilitates timely care.

The faster the better?­A systematic review on distress in the diagnostic phase of suspected cancer, and the influence of rapid diagnostic pathways.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of articles published in the last 25 years on prevalence and course of distress and quality of life surrounding the diagnostic process of suspected cancer, and the influence of rapid diagnostic programs. METHODS: Twenty-three articles were identified via Pubmed, PsycINFO, and reference lists of articles. Except for three randomized clinical trials and one case control study all studies were uncontrolled cohort studies. RESULTS: Most studies involved patients with suspected breast cancer and therefore had a sex selection bias. Four studies on the effect of rapid outpatient diagnostic programs were found.Studies showed very high prevalence of anxiety, decreasing in case of a benign diagnosis but increasing or sustaining in patients waiting for results or after cancer diagnosis though not significantly more in rapid programs. Quality of life was low and showed varying patterns. CONCLUSIONS: Distress in the diagnostic phase of cancer is a major problem and the rapid decrease of anxiety in patients eventually not diagnosed with cancer suggests a benefit of rapid diagnostic programs. The available evidence however is limited and shows some inconsistencies. Studies differ in subjects, objective and are limited by quality and quantity. Conflicting results prohibit a conclusion on patients ultimately diagnosed with cancer.

Real-life safety of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors in older patients with cancer: An observational study.

INTRODUCTION: To compare the real-world safety profile of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitors between younger and older patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients receiving pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab or durvalumab between September 2016 and September 2019 at Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands were included in this retrospective study. Immune-related adverse drug reactions (irADRs) were manually retrieved from the electronic patient files. The cumulative incidence of irADRs were compared between younger (<65 years) and older (≥65 years) patients using a Pearsons Chi-square test. RESULTS: We identified 217 patients who were treated with at least one dose of PD-(L)1 inhibitor. 58% were 65 years or older at the start of immunotherapy. 183 patients (84.3%) received monotherapy PD-(L)1 inhibitors and 34 (15.7%) received chemo-immunotherapy. A total of 278 irADRs were registered. Cutaneous irADRs (53.9%), thyroid gland disorders (20.3%), and non-infectious diarrhoea/colitis (17.5%) were the most frequently reported irADRs. The majority of the irADRs were mild to moderate and no fatal irADRs were observed. 61 (21.9%) of the irADRs needed systemic treatment, of which 19 (6.8%) required treatment with corticosteroids. 18 irADRs (6.5%) were severe and resulted in hospitalisation. The cumulative incidence of cutaneous irADRs was different between the age groups: 45.7% of the patients <65 years and in 60.0% of the patients ≥65 years (p = 0.036). No statistical difference was found in the cumulative incidence of other irADRs between the two age groups. DISCUSSION: Advanced age is not associated with immune-related adverse drug reactions of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors.

Randomized phase III study of docetaxel versus docetaxel plus intercalated erlotinib in patients with relapsed non-squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Earlier preclinical and phase II research showed enhanced effect of docetaxel plus intercalated erlotinib. The NVALT-18 phase III study was designed to compare docetaxel with docetaxel plus intercalated erlotinib in relapsed metastasized non-squamous (NSQ) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Patients with relapsed Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) wild type (WT) NSQ-NSCLC were randomized 1:1 to docetaxel 75 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1 every 21 days (control), or docetaxel 75 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1 plus erlotinib 150 mg/day orally on day 2-16 every 21 days (experimental arm). Progression free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint, secondary objectives were duration of response, overall survival (OS) and toxicity. RESULTS: Between October 2016 and April 2018 a total of 45 patients were randomized and received treatment in the control (N = 23) or experimental arm (N = 22), the study was stopped due to slow accrual. Median PFS was 4.0 months (95% CI: 1.5-7.1) versus 1.9 months (95% CI 1.4-3.5), p = 0.01 respectively; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 2.51 (95% CI: 1.16-5.43). Corresponding median OS was 10.6 months (95% CI: 7.0-8.6) versus 4.7 months (95% CI: 3.2-8.6), p = 0.004, with an adjusted HR of 3.67 (95% CI: 1.46-9.27). Toxicity was higher with combination therapy, with toxicity ≥ CTCAE grade 3 in N = 6 (26%) in the control arm and N = 17 (77%) in the experimental arm (p < 0.001), mainly consisting of gastrointestinal symptoms and leukopenia. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows detrimental effects of docetaxel plus intercalated erlotinib, and strongly discourages further exploration of this combination in clinical practice.

Timeliness of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment in a rapid outpatient diagnostic program with combined 18FDG-PET and contrast enhanced CT scanning.

INTRODUCTION: Delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer are under debate and may affect outcome. The objectives of this study were to compare various delays in a rapid outpatient diagnostic program (RODP) for suspected lung cancer patients with those described in literature and with guideline recommendations, to investigate the effects of referral route and symptoms on delays, and to establish whether delays were related to disease stage and outcome. METHODS: A retrospective chart study was conducted of all patients with suspected lung cancer, referred to the RODP of our tertiary care university clinic between 1999 and 2009. Patient characteristics, tumor stage and different delays were analyzed. RESULTS: Medical charts of 565 patients were retrieved. 290 patients (51.3%) were diagnosed with lung cancer, 48 (8.5%) with another type of malignancy, and in 111 patients (19.6%) the radiological anomaly was diagnosed as non-malignant. In 112 (19.8%) no immediate definite diagnosis was obtained, however in 82 of these cases (73.2%) the proposed follow-up strategy confirmed a benign outcome. The median first line delay was 54 days, IQR (interquartile range) 20-104 days, median patient delay 19 days (IQR 4-52 days), median referral delay was 7 days (IQR 5-9 days), median diagnostic delay 2 days (IQR 1-19 days). In 87% a diagnosis was obtained within 3 weeks after visiting a chest physician and 52.5% started curative therapy within 2 weeks after diagnosis. Patients presenting with hemoptysis had shorter first line delays. The RODP care was generally far more timely compared to literature and published guidelines, except for both referral and palliative therapeutic delay. No specific delay was significantly related to disease stage or survival. CONCLUSIONS: An RODP results in a timely diagnosis well within guideline recommendations. Patient and first line delay account for most of total patient delay. Within the limitations of this retrospective study, we found no association with disease stage or survival.