Efficacy of carboplatin and paclitaxel with bevacizumab as salvage chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer after failure of platinum-doublet chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Salvage chemotherapy using carboplatin (C), paclitaxel (P), and bevacizumab (BEV) for patients with pre-treated, advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not yet been reported. PATIENT AND METHODS Medical records of patients with non-squamous NSCLC who received CP plus BEV between November 2009 and September 2011 and experienced progression after at least one platinum-based-chemotherapy regimen, were examined in this retrospective study. RESULTS Twenty-one patients were eligible for this study. The median number of prior chemotherapy regimens was 3 (range, 2 to 9). The median number of cycles of CP with BEV was 4 (range, 1 to 6). Seven patients underwent BEV maintenance therapy, and the median number of cycles of BEV maintenance was 8 (range, 2 to 13). Toxicity levels were acceptable. The overall median survival time was not reached and one-year survival rate was 54.95%. The overall progression-free survival was 6.1 months (95% confidence interval, 4.4-9.3 months). CONCLUSION CP with BEV was effective and feasible as a salvage chemotherapy after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with non-squamous NSCLC.