Table 3 Clinical characteristics and treatment response of all patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy as the third-line treatment

N (%)

20

10

25

5

Age (year) -mean ± SD

59.2 ± 12.3

59 ± 8.3

0.9665

59.8 ± 11.4

56.1 ± 9.1

0.4982

Age -n (%)

0.0910

0.1088

 <65 years old

12 (60%)

9 (90%)

16 (64%)

5 (100%)

 ≥65 years old

8 (40%)

1 (10%)

9 (36%)

0 (0%)

Sex-n (%)

0.1444

0.1396

 Female

13 (65%)

9 (90%)

17 (68%)

5 (100%)

 Male

7 (35%)

1 (10%)

8 (32%)

0 (0%)

Smoking history-n (%)

0.1444

0.7119

 Never smoker

13 (65%)

9 (90%)

18 (72%)

4 (80%)

 Ever smoker

7 (35%)

1 (10%)

7 (28%)

1 (20%)

TTF-1 staining-n (%)

0.6048

0.5127

 Negative

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

 Positive

19 (95%)

9 (90%)

23 (92%)

5 (100%)

 Not performed

1 (5%)

1 (10%)

2 (8%)

0 (0%)

EGFR gene mutation site-n (%)

0.0225

0.1909

 Exon18

0 (0%)

1 (10%)

1 (4%)

0 (0%)

 Exon19

14 (70%)

2 (20%)

15 (60%)

1 (20%)

 Exon21

6 (30%)

7 (70%)

9 (36%)

4 (80%)

Metastatic sites on initial diagnosis-n (%)

0.5839

0.1659

 ≤1

6 (30%)

4 (40%)

7 (28%)

3 (60%)

 ≥2

14 (70%)

6 (60%)

18 (72%)

2 (40%)

Performance status while starting gefitinib-n (%)

0.1967

0.4142

 ECOG ≤1

17 (85%)

10 (100%)

23 (92%)

4 (80%)

 ECOG ≥2

3 (15%)

0 (0%)

2 (8%)

1 (20%)

Progression-free survival of gefitinib (month) -median (IQR)

9.3 (6.1-12.3)

10.5 (7.5-15.3)

0.5919

8.6 (6.1-11.4)

14.7 (12.5-15.4)

0.0144

Performance status while starting the second-line treatment-n (%)

0.5593

0.7119

 ECOG ≤1

14 (70%)

8 (80%)

18 (72%)

4 (80%)

 ECOG ≥2

6 (30%)

2 (20%)

7 (28%)

1 (20%)

Progression-free survival of the second-line treatment (month) -median (IQR)

4.2 (2.3-6.2)

2.5 (1.0-4.0)

0.0105

4.0 (2.4-6.0)

2.1 (1.0-2.2)

0.1359

Performance status while starting the third-line treatment-n (%)

0.2974

0.8691

 ECOG ≤1

10 (50%)

7 (70%)

14 (56%)

3 (60%)

 ECOG ≥2

10 (50%)

3 (30%)

11 (44%)

2 (40%)

Initial treatment response to the third-line treatment-n (%)

0.1513

0.0353

Partial response

0 (0%)

1 (10%)

0 (0%)

1 (20%)

Stable disease

13 (65%)

8 (80%)

17 (68%)

4 (80%)

Progressive disease

7 (35%)

1 (10%)

8 (32%)

0 (0%)

Initial disease control rate with the third-line treatment (%)

65%

90%

0.1444

68%

100%

0.1396