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| |  Zoledronic Acid Improves Overall Survival in Patients With NSCLC and Skeletal Metastasis: Presented at Lung 2010 By Jenny Powers GENEVA -- May 3, 2010 -- Patients with lung cancer and skeletal metastasis experienced longer overall survival times when zoledronic acid was added to platinum-based chemotherapy, researchers stated here at the 2nd European Lung Cancer Conference (Lung 2010). Breast cancer patients who have metastatic bone disease (MBD) have demonstrated increased survival when treated with bisphosphonates such as zoledronic acid. Rosella Calderone, MD, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy, and colleagues conducted a retrospective audit to compare the overall survival of patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy with and without zoledronic acid for lung cancer and bone metastasis, which occurs in about 40% of lung cancer patients. Dr. Calderone presented the findings here on April 30. The audit compared the data of 104 patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who were diagnosed between July 2004 and July 2009 and who also presented with MBD. Of these patients, 43 received zoledronic acid and platinum-based chemotherapy from the time of diagnosis and 71 received only platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients who received zoledronic acid had a median overall survival of 34 weeks, compared with a median overall survival of 19 weeks in the patients who received only platinum-based chemotherapy (P = .01). After adjusting for prognostic factors, better overall survival (P = .06) of 34 versus 21 weeks was demonstrated by the group receiving zoledronic acid plus chemotherapy versus the chemotherapy-only patients, respectively. Zoledronic acid should be given to patients who are both symptomatic and asymptomatic for MBD, noted Dr. Calderone. "We have no evidence that zoledronic acid can improve overall survival in patients with lung cancer without bone metastasis, but all patients with lung cancer should be screened for bone metastasis, and more research should be done in the group with asymptomatic bone mets," she said. The team also concluded that zoledronic acid may act synergistically with platinum-based chemotherapy and warrants further study. Policies regarding the treatment of MBD in NSCLC patients need to be put in place, they added. This conference is cosponsored by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). [Presentation title: Use of Zoledronic Acid in Lung Cancer. Abstract 253P]
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