Purpose: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is associated with pulmonary function decline and high disease severity in non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis. The prevalence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in non-CF bronchiectasis patients has increased recently. This study investigated the impact of NTM with or without P. aeruginosa isolates in non-CF bronchiectasis patients. Patients and methods: Our retrospective study included 96 non-CF bronchiectasis patients from January 2005 to December 2014. We recorded the presentation, exacerbations, emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalization, serial pulmonary function, radiologic studies, and sputum culture results. All patients were followed up for at least 2 years. Results: The 96 patients were divided into four groups: patients with concomitant negative NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates (n=41; group 1), patients with positive NTM isolates (n=20; group 2), patients with positive P. aeruginosa isolates (n=20; group 3), and patients with concomitant positive NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates (n=15; group 4). Compared with group 1 patients, patients in groups 2 and 3 showed a significant decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁). They also had more frequent annual acute exacerbations (AE), ED visits, and hospitalization. Group 4 patients had the greatest FEV₁ and forced vital capacity (FVC) decline and the most frequent AE, ED visits, and hospitalization. Conclusion: Concomitant NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates in non-CF bronchiectasis are associated with the greatest pulmonary function decline and the worst disease severity. This result suggested that early recognition and prompt treatment of concomitant NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates may improve the outcome in non-CF bronchiectasis patients.

Background: Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is rare, with better clinical outcomes than other lung cancers. However, reports on advanced LELC characteristics and prognosis are lacking. Methods: This retrospective study included adults diagnosed with advanced LELC (at least stage IIIA) between January 2003 and December 2015. Clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, and outcomes were recorded. Results: Study population comprised 23 patients with a mean age of 63.7±10.6 years. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status on diagnosis was 0 in five patients and 1 in the others. Most patients received multimodality treatment and all received cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Median follow-up duration was 28.8 months. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 14.6 months in patients received palliative chemotherapy. There were nine (39.1%) deaths. The median overall survival (OS) was not achieved. Until July 31, 2016, median OS was 54.1 months for stage IIIB and 27.6 months for stage IV. There was no significant difference in OS among all stages. No prognostic factors were found. Conclusions: Advanced LELC responded well to cisplatin-based chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Main tumor resection is probably beneficial for advanced LELC. Long-term survival is possible for advanced LELC after multimodality treatment.

Fixed doses at 200 mg of pembrolizumab or 2 mg/kg every 3 weeks are the standard dosages for first- and second-line treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, in clinical practice, patients with NSCLC may receive lower doses of pembrolizumab due to drug product availability or economic factors. To date, the comparative effectiveness and safety of the standard dose and lower doses of pembrolizumab in these patients still remains limited. We conducted a retrospective cohort study by analyzing electronic medical records data from the largest multi-institutional hospital system in Taiwan. Advanced NSCLC patients newly receiving pembrolizumab with or without chemotherapy were included. Patients were classified into: (1) the standard-dose group (≥2 mg/kg), and (2) the low-dose group (<2 mg/kg). We applied inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to compare the overall survival (OS) and immune-related adverse events (irAEs) between the two treatment groups, and to evaluate the minimum clinically effective dose of pembrolizumab. We included a total of 147 NSCLC patients receiving standard-dose pembrolizumab (mean [range] age: 63.7 [58.0–73.0] years; male: 62.6%; mean [range] body weight: 60.5 [58.0–73.0] kg) and 95 patients receiving low-dose pembrolizumab (mean [range] age: 62.0 [50.0–68.8] years; male: 64.2%; mean [range] body weight: 63.9 [55.0–73.8] kg). After IPTW adjustments, the median OS was similar for both the standard-dose and low-dose pembrolizumab groups (19.3 vs. 14.3 months, log-rank p = 0.15). Also, the rate for all classes of irAEs was similar for both groups. We found that patients with a pembrolizumab dose ≥1.8 mg/kg were associated with better OS than those receiving <1.8 mg/kg. Our findings suggested no significant difference in OS and irAEs between patients receiving pembrolizumab ≥2 mg/kg and <2 mg/kg in clinical practice. A pembrolizumab dose ≥1.8 mg/kg may be the clinically most efficient dose.

Background: The experience of using consolidation durvalumab in post-concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is rare in real-world clinical practice, and the factors associated with its efficacy are also unclear. We sought to analyze the efficacy of consolidation durvalumab and the factors associated with its efficacy using a multicenter observational study. Methods: The data for 61 patients with post-CCR unresectable stage III NSCLC receiving consolidation durvalumab at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospitals in Linkou, Keelung, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung from November 2017 to March 2020 were analyzed. (3) Results: The median post-CCRT progression-free survival (PFS) and time to metastatic disease or death (TMDD) for consolidation durvalumab were 14.0 months and 16.7 months, respectively. In multiple variant factors analysis, we found that an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation was an independently unfavorable predictive factor for consolidation durvalumab therapy regarding PFS. The median post-CCRT PFS was 6.50 months for EGFR-mutated patients and 33.63 months for EGFR wild-type and unknown patients (HR = 10.47; 95% CI, 4.55–24.07; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Consolidation durvalumab is effective and safe for post-CCRT unresectable stage III NSCLC in clinical practice, but EGFR mutation is an unfavorable factor for consolidation durvalumab. Thus, searching for a better consolidation therapy for EGFR-mutated patients is warranted.

The prognostic value of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and the correlation between EGFR mutations and the new International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (IASLC/ATS/ERS) histological classification remain controversial. The current study aimed to investigate the pure prognostic role of EGFR mutations in treatment-naïve patients with resected stage I lung adenocarcinoma. We retrospectively reviewed 373 patients with stage I pulmonary non-small-cell lung cancer who underwent complete surgical resection between January 2010 and May 2014. The tumors were classified according to IASLC/ATS/ERS criteria. EGFR mutation status was determined by established methods. A total of 120 patients were included for analysis; 87 had tumors with EGFR mutations and 33 had wild-type tumors. More low- and intermediate-grade tumors had EGFR mutations, and nearly half of the high-grade tumors were wild-type (75.7% versus 46.2%, p = 0.041). Patients with low-grade tumors had significantly greater median disease-free survival (DFS) (76.8 versus 13 months, p < 0.0001) and better overall survival (OS) (median OS not reached, p = 0.0003) than those with intermediate- and high-grade tumors. Tumor recurrence was 41.4% and 30.3% in mutant and wild-type patients. The 5-years survival rate was 54% and 71.2%. Multivariate analysis revealed that the new histological classification and the pathologic stage were independent predictors of both DFS and OS. EGFR mutation status had no prognostic implications. Low grade tumors according to IASLC/ATS/ERS histological classification and the pathologic stage IA tumors of resected stage I lung adenocarcinomas independently predict better DFS and OS. EGFR mutations were frequently seen in histologically low- and intermediate-grade tumors but not a prognostic factor.