February 2017 Vol. 5 No.2

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Original Research Article

Pemetrexed in third and fourth line chemotherapy for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer

Alexandru Calin Grigorescu MD, PhD, RdI

Institute of Oncology ”Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu” Bucharest, Sos. Fundeni 252, Sector2, Bucharest. Department of Medical Oncology

E-mail: alexgrigorescu2004@yahoo.com
Tel.: +40212271070, +402271040

Accepted February 20, 2017

Abstract

Lung cancer is responsible for the highest mortality caused by malignant solid tumors. Chemotherapy remain one of the most important modality of treatment. This retrospective study analyzed the records of 42 patients treatment with pemetrexed, used in second, third and fourth line chemotherapy for advanced non-squamos non-small cell cancer (NSCLC). Kaplan Meier curve was used for calculation of overall survival. The median overall survival in the second-line was 10 months and in third- and fourth-line was 6.5 months. We discuss the similar study with pemetrexed in mono-chemotherapy or combination, study with similar results. Also, we make a reference to the new therapy with best results but with much higher cost and effective only for a part of patients. This result and other results presented in similar studies encourage us to recommend pemetrexed in the third and fourth line chemotherapy for well-selected patients.

Keywords: Chemotherapy, lung cancer, Non-small cell lung cancer, pemetrexed, third line chemotherapy