Abstract: ObjectiveTo observe the curative and adverse side effects of erlotinib in elderly patients with advanced non-small
cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsSeven-two elderly patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC in advanced stage (III or
IV) received treatment with oral erlotinib at the daily dose of150mg, and the treatment was discontinued until intolerance of
the side effects or the occurrence of disease progression. The clinical effect and adverse side effects of erlotinib were further
observed, and the association between clinical characteristics and the response to erlotinib was also analyzed.ResultsAmong
the 72patients,1patient achieved complete remission,8patients had partial remission,10had stable disease, and7had
progressive disease, with a disease control rate of72.22% . After a median follow-up time of17months (4to 32months), the
median survival time was14.5months (6.5-28.3months), and the median time to progression was10.6months (5-16.5months).
Erlotinib resulted in a significantly higher rate of favorable response in female, non-smoking patients with adenocarcinoma
than in male, smoking patients with squamous carcinoma (P<0.05). The occurrence of skin rash was not associated with the
response to erlotinib in these patients (P>0.05). The most common drug-related adverse events included skin rash, diarrhea,
hepatic dysfunction (GPT elevation), nausea and vomiting, but mostly mild and well tolerable.ConclusionErlotinib is safe
and effective in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.