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| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2012 | Volume
: 8
| Issue : 3 | Page : 464 |
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A vanishing act: The incredible erlotinib
Shitij Arora, Harinder Sawhney
Department of Hematology and Oncology, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11209, USA
| Date of Web Publication | 17-Nov-2012 |
Correspondence Address:
Shitij Arora
Room 405, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, 374, Stockholm Street, NY 11237
USA
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0973-1482.103539
How to cite this article:
Arora S, Sawhney H. A vanishing act: The incredible erlotinib. J Can Res Ther 2012;8:464 |
Sir,
A 57-year-old male with 100-pack-year smoking history came to our hospital with shortness of breath. Imaging revealed multiple bilateral nodules (Panel a) which on biopsy showed a focally mucin producing, broncho-alveoloar carcinoma [Figure 1]. He was started on cisplatinum and gemcitabine. After 2 cycles, there was no evident reduction in the bulk of the disease. Mutational analysis studies suggested EGFR mutation (deletion of exon 19) and the patient was then started on erlotinib monotherapy. The follow up chest X-ray done at 3 months post erlotinib therapy is shown in Panel b [Figure 1]. | Figure 1: Image on the left (Panel a) shows the chest x ray in June 2011. On the right (Panel b) is shown the chest x ray in September 2011 after 4 months of monotherapy with Erlotinib. Patient showed a dramatic clinical response with siginifi cant improvement in MMRC dyspnea scale
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Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (Erlotinib, Nilotinib) are a recommended therapy for advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor mutations. In a study comparing erlotinib alone versus erlotinib/carboplatin/paclitaxel in patients with advanced NSCLC (CALGB 30406), [1] erlotinib was associated with fewer adverse effects.
| > References | |  |
| 1. | Jänne PA, Wang XF, Socinski MA, Crawford J, Capelletti M, Edelman MJ, et al. Randomized phase II trial of erlotinib alone or with carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients who were never or light former smokers with advanced lung adenocarcinoma: CALGB 30406 trial. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jun 10;30(17):2063-9. 
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[Figure 1]
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