Similar survival benefits of a good response and stable disease to platinum-based chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.

The present study aimed to evaluate the similar survival benefits of a good response [complete response or partial response (CR/PR)] and stable disease (SD) to chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in clinical practice. All 322 patients who were treated between 1999 and 2012 with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Tumor responses were classified according to the response evaluation criteria for solid tumors. A total of 67 (20.8%) patients experienced CR/PR and 165 (51.2%) achieved SD. There was no difference in progression-free survival between the patients with CR/PR and those with SD (P=0.347). There was also no difference between the two groups with regard to overall survival time (P=0.878). In multivariate analysis, disease-control (more than SD) was one of the favorable prognostic factors. In clinical practice, a survival benefit would be provided not only for the patients who have good response, but also for those with SD.