Purpose: To explore the therapeutic effects and prognosis of osimertinib combined with docetaxel for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: A total of 94 patients with NSCLC diagnosed in hospitals of Changzhou were selected and randomly divided into two groups of 47 patients each. Patients in the control group took osimertinib tablets, while patients in the drug combination group were given intravenous docetaxel in addition to the oral administration of osimertinib. The therapeutic effects, inflammatory factors, toxic and side effects and factors affecting prognosis were analyzed in the two groups.
Results: The overall response rate (RR) and disease control rate (DCR) in the drug combination group were 25.53% and 57.44%, respectively, which were higher than those in the control group. Before treatment, there were no obvious differences in terms of the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) and cytokeratin19 fragment antigen 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) between the two groups of patients. After treatment, the levels of the above indicators were lower in the drug combination group than in the control group. Patients in the two groups demonstrated significantly different degrees of side effects during treatment, including fatigue, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia. Smoking history, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) score and TNM staging were important indicators affecting the prognosis of NSCLC patients. KPS score <70 and TNM stage IV were independent risk factors for the prognosis of NSCLC patients. After follow-up for 2 years, it was found that the survival rate was remarkably different between the two groups. The survival rate was notably higher in the drug combination group than in the control group.
Conclusions: The therapeutic effect of osimertinib combined with docetaxel is better than that of osimertinib alone, but the toxic and side effects of combined use are significantly higher, suggesting that enteral administration should be conducted during the medication period. Patients with smoking history, advanced TNM stage and high KPS score tend to have a poor prognosis.