Objective: To analyze the clinical feature and the value of chemotherapy for advanced stage bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) of the lung.
Methods: The clinical data of 53 advanced stage BAC patients treated from Jan. 1999 to Dec. 2004 was collected and reviewed. Most of the patients received more than 2 cycles of the combined chemotherapy with platinum-based regimen.
Results: Of these 53 eligible patients in this series, 34 (64.2%) were women, 42 (79.2%) never smoked any cigarette, 29 (54.7%) originated from the right lung, and 12 patients (22.6%) showed bilateral multi-lobular or multi-central lesions or diffusive pulmonary involvement. The objective response rate was 17.0% (2 complete response, 7 partial response). 30 (56.6%) patients demonstrated stable disease and 14 (26.4%) patients showed progression of the disease. The median progression-free and overall survivals were 6.1 and 16.0 months, respectively. The 1-year survival rate was 71.7%. Grade 3 or severer toxicities included neutropenia (34.0%), thrombocytopenia (15.1%), anemia (22.6%), nausea and vomiting (39.6%), alopecia (30.2%), constipation (17.0%) and peripheral neurotoxicity (13.2%).
Conclusion: Advanced bronchioloalveolar carcinoma is likely to occur in woman, nonsmoker and the right lung, frequently with bilateral diffuse pulmonary involvement. The platinum-based combined chemotherapy regimen is modestly effective with tolerable toxicity. Compared with the historical data of lung adenocarcinoma of the same stage, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma has a longer overall survived.