Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of bevacizumab concomitant with pemetrexed in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Materials and methods: A total of 72 patients were randomly divided into a combination group (pemetrexed+bevacizumab, n=36) and a pemetrexed group (n=36) and assessed for disease control (CR+PR+SD) after 4-cycles of first-line GP chemotherapy (gemcitabine+cisplatin). Clinical efficacy, progression-free survival time (PFS), overall survival time (OS), overall response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and rate of adverse responses between two groups were observed and compared.
Results: ORR and DCR were 27.8% and 83.4% in combination group, and 16.7% and 69.5% in the pemetrexed group, respectively, but there were no significant differences (P>0.05). PFS in combination group and pemetrexed group were 4.6 months and 3.9 months respectively (P=0.09), whereas OS in the combination group was 14 months, evidently higher than in the pemetrexed group (11 months, P=0.004). Adverse responses in both groups included high blood pressure, bleeding, thrombocytopenia, anemia, elevated transaminase, diarrhea, vomiting and proteinuria, but there were no significant differences (P>0.05).
Conclusions: Bevacizumab concomitant with pemetrexed has better clinical efficacy and safety, giving rise to prolonged survival time in patients with advanced NSCLC.