Lung cancer performance status

Ott et al. (1980) performed a cohort mortality and incidence study of 2904 workers exposed to styrene-based products at four plants of the Dow company and included 100 workers exposed to acrylonitrile. The cohort was followed from 1 January 1940 to 31 December 1975. Mortality rates for the cohort were compared with those in the population of the United States. Vital status was determined for all but 88 (3%) of the workers. Among the acrylonitrile workers, there were one observed death from lung cancer versus 0.5 expected and three cases of leukaemia versus 1.25 expected. 

Mohamed MK et al (2005) Skin rash and good performance status predict improved survival with gefitinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Ann Oncol 16 780-785... 

K.S. Albain, C.P. Belani, P. Bonomi, K.J. O Byme, J.H. Schiller, M. Socinski, PIONEER a phase III randomized trial of paclitaxel poliglumex versus paclitaxel in chemotherapy-naive women with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer and performance status of 2, Clin. Lung Cancer 7 (2006) 417-419. 

In a phase II study of cetuximab and radiation in elderly and/or poor performance status patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, there were no treatment-related deaths, but 31 patients had grade 3 or worse adverse events, most commonly/flf/gMe, anorexia, dyspnea, rashes, and dysphagia, each of which occurred in under 10% of patients [107 ]. 

CT-2103 is currently under evaluation as a single agent in Riase II clinical trials in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer, primary non-small-cell lung cancer in the aged and in patients with a poor performance status, and in patients with relapsed colon cancer. It is also under evaluation in ovarian and lung cancer in combination with platinates . 

Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the Western World. NSCLC accounts for approximately 75% of all lung carcinomas and 35% of patients with NSCLC will present with stage lllA or lllB disease. The majority of these patients with mediastinal involvement are not amenable to surgical resection, and primary radiation therapy alone results in 5-year actuarial survival of only 3%-7% and a median survival time of 6-11 months (Jeremic et al. 1996). Combined modality therapy is now considered the standard of care for those patients with unresectable tumors and a good performance status. 

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