OBJECTIVE: To describe real-world clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and health care resource utilization in patients who did not experience disease progression during their first two cycles of chemoradiation for unresectable, locally advanced, stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the United States (US) and Canada.
METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records of patients diagnosed with unresectable, locally advanced, stage III NSCLC was conducted in the US and Canada. Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years and completed at least two cycles of concurrent, platinum-based chemoradiation between January 1, 2011, and March 31, 2016, without experiencing disease progression. The start date of the third cycle or 3 weeks following the end of the second cycle defined the index date.
RESULTS: Among 135 patients in the US and 39 patients in Canada, 68.2% (US) and 69.2% (Canada) were male; 71.9% (US) and 84.6% (Canada) were white. In the US and Canada, adenocarcinoma was the most common tumor type (71.9% and 48.7%, respectively), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (25.9% and 30.8%, respectively). Only 7.7% (Canada) and 15.6% (US) received programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) testing at initial diagnosis. At the index date, the median age was 62.7 (US) and 60.7 (Canada) years; 88.9% (US) and 51.3% (Canada) had a performance status of 0 or 1. The most frequently administered initial chemoradiation regimens were carboplatin and paclitaxel (US, 31.9%), cisplatin and etoposide (US, 24.4%; Canada, 33.3%), and carboplatin (Canada, 20.5%). The median number of cycles administered was 2 in the US and 3 in Canada. Of the 46.7% (US) and 12.8% (Canada) who received additional treatment for stage III disease after chemoradiation, 82.5% (US) and 40.0% (Canada) received chemotherapy.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation generally initiated treatment according to guidelines. PD-L1 testing is uncommon.
