Lung cancer : journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer
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Survival after diagnosis of lung cancer is poor and seemingly lower in the UK than other Western countries, due in large part to late presentation with advanced disease precluding curative treatment. Recent research suggests that around one-third of lung cancer patients reach specialist care after emergency presentation and have a worse survival outcome. Confirmation of these data and understanding which patients are affected may allow a targeted approach to improving outcomes. ⋯ Our data confirm and quantify poorer survival in lung cancer patients who are referred non-electively to specialist care, which is more common in patients with poorer performance status, higher disease stage and less advantaged socioeconomic status. Work to tackle this late presentation should be urgently accelerated, since its realisation holds the promise of improved outcomes and better healthcare resource utilisation.
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Clinical implications of KRAS mutational status in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. To clarify this point, we retrospectively explored whether KRAS mutations could impact tumor response, and disease control rate (DCR) to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy (CT) as well as progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS). ⋯ KRAS mutant tumors had a lower DCR after the first-line platinum-based CT, but this difference did not translate in PFS or OS. The presence of KRAS mutations may confer a more aggressive disease, with greater baseline incidence of hepatic and cerebral metastases.