Efficacy and Safety of Continuing Bevacizumab beyond Disease Progression plus Docetaxel in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis

Background: Bevacizumab-based chemotherapy has been shown to extend progression-free survival (PFS) of lung cancer, but its effect on overall survival (OS) remains unclear. However, bevacizumab beyond disease progression (BBP) significantly improved OS in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods: Therefore, we retrospectively analysed 22 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with docetaxel plus BBP at the Department of Thoracic Oncology, Kansai Medical University Hirakata Hospital, between November 2009 and March 2013. Results: The response rate was 31.8% and the disease control rate was 86.4%. The median PFS was 4.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.5 - 8.7 months) and the median OS was 17.2 months (95% CI, 8.5 - 25.9 months). Grade 3 and 4 adverse events included leukocytopenia (68.2%), neutropenia (77.3%), fatigue (9.1%), proteinuria (9.1%), febrile neutropenia (4.5%), anemia (4.5%), and anorexia (4.5%). Conclusion: Docetaxel plus BBP was found to be generally well tolerated and effective.