Primary Tumor Resection With EGFR TKI for Stage IV NSCLC

In Taiwan, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been the leading cause of cancer death, making a phenomenal impact on public health. By understanding the oncogenic driver mutations of NSCLC (e.g. EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement), the target therapy has taken the place of chemotherapy for its effectiveness and specificity, becoming the new standard of care for stage IV NSCLC. Despite the progress of medical treatment, the majority of patients with stage IV NSCLC still underwent disease progression after a period of time. Noticeably, more than half of the progression was restricted to the original sites of the tumor. It brings up the hypothesis that a combination of local consolidative therapy (e.g. surgery or radial therapy) and medical treatment could be beneficial for these patients. This has been advocated by the latest clinical trials as well. Our project is going to enroll patients with stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation and evaluate whether primary tumor resection after receiving the afatinib can prolong the progression-free survival. This project is supposed to establish a new treatment protocol for stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation.