Treatment options for patients with relapsed/refractory small cell lung cancer (R/R SCLC) are limited, and the efficacy of salvage therapies for heavily treated patients should be assessed. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of paclitaxel (PTX) in R/R SCLC patients.A single-institute retrospective chart review was conducted. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), whereas the secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate, disease control rate (DCR), and safety.Thirty-one patients (median age, 69 [range, 56–80] years) were analyzed. The median follow-up period was 122 (range, 28–1121) days. The median OS and PFS were 4.4 and 2.2 months, respectively. Adverse events of grade 3 or higher, other than hematological toxicity, were febrile neutropenia and neuropathy. Multivariate analyses identified the following independent predictors of poor OS: performance status and lactate dehydrogenase at the upper limit of normal.PTX monotherapy showed moderate efficacy with acceptable toxicity in heavily treated patients with R/R SCLC patients.

It is highly recommended that patients with exon 19 deletions and long PFS undergo screening for T790M.

OBJECTIVES Stent migration is a common complication of airway stent placement for upper tracheal stenosis and tracheoesophageal fistula. Although several researchers have reported that external fixation is effective in preventing stent migration, the usefulness and safety of external fixation have not been proved because their cohorts were small. We therefore investigated the efficacy and safety of external fixation during upper tracheal stenting. METHODS Records of patients who underwent airway stent placement from May 2007 to August 2018 in a single centre were retrospectively reviewed. We included only patients whose stent had been placed in the upper trachea with external fixation to the tracheal wall. The primary endpoint of this study was the rate of stent migration. RESULTS Altogether, 51 procedures were performed in 45 patients (32 males, 13 females; median age 60 years, range 14–91 years). The median follow-up period was 9 months (range 0.3–90 months). Among the procedures, 15 were performed for benign disease and 36 for malignancy. Stents were composed of either silicone (n = 42) or metal (n = 9). Stent migration occurred in 3 (6%) patients. The stents with migration were all composed of silicone. Other sequelae were granulation tissue formation in 10 (20%) patients, sputum obstruction in 6 (12%), cellulitis in 3 (6%) and pneumonia in 1 (2%). CONCLUSIONS External fixation was an effective method for preventing migration of airway stents placed for upper tracheal stenosis and tracheoesophageal fistula. The complications were acceptable in terms of safety.

Bronchial carcinoid is a rare malignant tumor that is categorized as a typical carcinoid or atypical carcinoid. Many institutions use flexible bronchoscopy for diagnosis. However, due to the hemorrhagic nature of the tumor, the amount of specimen obtained is often small, making it difficult to obtain an accurate diagnosis. The use of rigid bronchoscopy may not only contribute to obtaining a diagnosis but also be beneficial in the treatment plan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of rigid bronchoscopic interventions for the diagnosis and treatment of bronchial carcinoids. All patients with bronchial carcinoids who underwent rigid bronchoscopic intervention under general anesthesia at our institution between June 2006 and August 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Eight patients [3 men and 5 women; median age, 71 years (range 45-82 years)] were eligible for the analysis. None of the cases had accurate subtyping preoperatively before intervention. In contrast, all cases were diagnosed as carcinoid with subtypes (5 patients had typical carcinoid and 3 had atypical carcinoid) following rigid bronchoscopic intervention. All respiratory symptoms improved immediately after the procedure. One instance of bleeding occurred, and was easily controlled by argon plasma coagulation and intraluminal administration of epinephrine under flexible and rigid bronchoscopy. Four patients (3 with typical carcinoid and 1 with atypical carcinoid) underwent radical surgery sequentially, and no recurrences were observed. We conclude that rigid bronchoscopic intervention is safe and effective for accurate diagnosis and improvement of respiratory symptoms in patients with bronchial carcinoids.

IntroductionEndobronchial biopsy using forceps is generally performed with a standard bronchoscope, while a needle is used with an endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) bronchoscope. An EBUS video bronchoscope, such as the EB‐530US instrument (Fujifilm, Tokyo, Japan), provides good visibility and may, therefore, enable both forceps biopsies and needle aspirations to be performed.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of performing forceps biopsies and needle aspirations using the EBUS video bronchoscope for diagnosing endobronchial lesions.MethodsSeventy patients with suspected endobronchial lesions based on a computed tomography scan were recruited and underwent forceps biopsy using the EB‐530US EBUS bronchoscope. If the result of a rapid on‐site cytological evaluation was negative, an additional needle aspiration of the same lesion or other target lesions was performed. The primary outcome was the completion rate of bronchoscopy, using only the EBUS bronchoscope without removal.ResultsIn the 70 patients, forceps biopsies and/or needle aspirations using the EBUS video bronchoscope were performed and completed without removing the EBUS bronchoscope in 67 patients (95.7%). The remaining three patients required the removal of the EBUS bronchoscope from the trachea (blood clot obstruction of the working channel in one patient and change to a thin bronchoscope to sample an EBUS bronchoscope‐inaccessible lesion in two others). The EBUS bronchoscope provided diagnostic material in 66 patients (94.3%). One case each of bleeding and pneumonia were observed (1.4%).ConclusionBoth forceps biopsy and needle aspiration are feasible using a Fujifilm EB‐530US EBUS video bronchoscope.

e20620 Background: Re-biopsy is important to decide the treatment after EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) failure in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We hypothesized that the T790M mutation in EGFR might show heterogeneity depending on the re-biopsy site. Methods: NSCLC patients who had received initial EGFR-TKI since January 2009 to December 2016, at any stage and recurrence after surgery and at any line of treatment, were included. Results: In total, 128 patients were included. Median age at EGFR-TKI therapy initiation was 73 (range, 38–97) years; 67% patients were female, all were Asian, 56% had never smoked, and 99% had adenocarcinoma. Of total 128 patients, 109 showed progressive disease. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10 (0.56–57) months. Median period since EGFR-TKI failure until the first re-biopsy was 197 (0–1322) days. Re-biopsy was performed 50 times in 42 patients; the number of T790M positive, negative, and pathologically negative patients was 20, 17, and 5, respectively, and the number of re-biopsies in these patients was 20, 22, and 8, respectively. Median PFS was longer in T790M positive patients than in negative patients significantly (17 [11–24] vs. 7.6 [4.3–11] months, P = 0.007). Characteristics such as gender, smoking status, proportion of stage IV, time between EGFR-TKI failure and first re-biopsy, and number of biopsies did not affect the T790M status in the biopsies. T790M positive group had more exon 19 deletions than negative group significantly (75% vs. 23%, P = 0.012). Biopsies at primary lesion, distant, and pleural effusion (PE) were 25% vs. 50%, 60% vs. 36%, and 15% vs. 14%, respectively, in the T790M positive vs. negative groups. Compared with the biopsy-site at diagnosis, the site was same as before in 35% vs. 50% cases (primary lesion [20% vs. 45%], distant [10% vs. 4.5%], and PE [5% vs. 0%]) and was new in 55% vs. 41% cases (distant lesions [45% vs. 27%] and PE [10% vs. 14%]) in the T790M positive vs. negative groups, respectively. Conclusions: In NSCLC patients treated with EGFR-TKI, re-biopsy was performed in distant lesions more frequently in the T790M positive cases than in negative cases. However, the T790M status was not correlated with the re-biopsy site.

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