TY - JOUR
T1 - Maintenance therapy in NSCLC
T2 - Why? to whom? Which agent?
AU - Novello, Silvia
AU - Milella, Michele
AU - Tiseo, Marcello
AU - Banna, Giuseppe
AU - Cortinovis, Diego
AU - Di Maio, Massimo
AU - Garassino, Marina
AU - Maione, Paolo
AU - Martelli, Olga
AU - Vavalà, Tiziana
AU - Bria, Emilio
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Maintenance therapy is emerging as a treatment strategy in the management of advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Initial trials addressing the question of duration of combination chemotherapy failed to show any overall survival benefit for the prolonged administration over a fixed number of cycles with an increased risk for cumulative toxicity. Nowadays several agents with different ways of administration and a different pattern of toxicity have been formally investigated in the maintenance setting. Maintenance strategies include continuing with an agent already present in the induction regimen or switching to a different one. Taking into consideration that no comparative trials of maintenance with different chemotherapy drugs or targeted agents have been conducted, the choice and the duration of maintenance agents is largely empirical. Furthermore, it is still unknown and it remains an open question if this approach needs to be proposed to every patient in the case of partial/complete response or stable disease after the induction therapy. Here, we critically review available data on maintenance treatment, discussing the possibility to tailor the right treatment to the right patient, in an attempt to optimize costs and benefits of an ever-growing panel of different treatment options.
AB - Maintenance therapy is emerging as a treatment strategy in the management of advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Initial trials addressing the question of duration of combination chemotherapy failed to show any overall survival benefit for the prolonged administration over a fixed number of cycles with an increased risk for cumulative toxicity. Nowadays several agents with different ways of administration and a different pattern of toxicity have been formally investigated in the maintenance setting. Maintenance strategies include continuing with an agent already present in the induction regimen or switching to a different one. Taking into consideration that no comparative trials of maintenance with different chemotherapy drugs or targeted agents have been conducted, the choice and the duration of maintenance agents is largely empirical. Furthermore, it is still unknown and it remains an open question if this approach needs to be proposed to every patient in the case of partial/complete response or stable disease after the induction therapy. Here, we critically review available data on maintenance treatment, discussing the possibility to tailor the right treatment to the right patient, in an attempt to optimize costs and benefits of an ever-growing panel of different treatment options.
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U2 - 10.1186/1756-9966-30-50
DO - 10.1186/1756-9966-30-50
M3 - Article
C2 - 21548925
AN - SCOPUS:79955656558
VL - 30
JO - Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research
JF - Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research
SN - 0392-9078
IS - 1
M1 - 50
ER -