Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma: Retrospective analysis from a single center.

Abstract

e21188 Background: Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) constitutes a heterogeneous group of poorly differentiated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since these are rare tumors, no definitive randomized trials or clinical guidelines are available for management. This is the largest single centre study of patients with pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated all patients with pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma between January 2013 to September 2020 at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India. Cases were identified from the pathology database. Baseline demographic, treatment data and outcomes were obtained from a prospectively maintained database in the Department of Medical Oncology. Results: A total of 151 patients with PSC were diagnosed during this period. Among these, 129 patients were included for survival analysis. The median age at diagnosis was 61 years (range, 18-87) with a majority of them being males (81.5%) and smokers (73%). A significant percentage of patients presented with poor performance status (PS was 2-4 in 48%). A majority of patients had T4 (73%) or N3 nodal status (44%). The clinical stage was stage I in 2%, stage II in 2.7%, stage III in 25.9%, and stage IV in 69.4%. The initial treatment modalities include surgery (10.9%), radical chemoradiotherapy (CRT, 3.9%), palliative chemotherapy (46.5%), palliative radiotherapy (7%), and best supportive care (31.8%). The median follow-up duration for the entire cohort was 32 months (95% CI 15.0 to 48.9). The median OS for the entire patient cohort was 5 months (95% CI 3.4 to 6.5). The median OS of patients who received curative surgery was 18 months (95% CI: 2.59 to 33.4) and the corresponding 1- and 5-year survival rates for patients who underwent surgery were 64% and 33% respectively. The median OS for patients who received CRT was 11 months (95% CI: 2.99 to 19). The median OS for the patients who received palliative radiotherapy alone was 4 months (95% CI: 1.91 to 6.08), for palliative chemotherapy was 8 months (95% CI: 5.24 to 10.75) and for patients who received only best supportive care was 1 month (95% CI: 0.43 to 1.57, p = 0.001). The median PFS and ORR for first, second- and third-line palliative chemotherapies were 4 months (95% CI: 2.95 to 5.04) and 15.1%, 4 months (95% CI: 0.33 to 7.67) and 13.3%, and 1 month (95% CI 0.21 to 1.78) and 0%. In a multivariate analysis, independent prognostic factors included the presence of brain metastasis (p 0.018, HR, 2.47, 95% CI 1.34-4.49) and administration of palliative chemotherapy (p = 0.037, HR2.2, 95% CI 1.04-4.94). Conclusions: PSC usually presents in advanced stages and carries a poor prognosis. Effective therapeutic options are required to improve the outcomes.