Late fatal recurrence in gefitinib-treated NSCLC patients.
Tüberküloz ve toraks 2007 Jan 1; 55(4):400-3
Miyazaki K K, Ano T T, Nakazawa K K, Satoh H H, Ohtsuka M M
Division of Respiratory Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
Gefitinib is a selective epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which blocks signal transduction pathways implicated in proliferation and survival of cancer cells. Long-term survival in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) treated with gefitinib has recently been reported. We showed herein two cases of fatal rapid recurrence after a long-term disease control by gefitinib. The biology of fatal aggressive recurrence of gefitinib-treated NSCLC is not well characterized. Regardless of the mechanism, however, physicians treating patients with gefitinib should be alert to the possibility of fatal rapid recurrence after a long-term disease control by this drug.