Survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer vaccinated with CIMAvax-EGF

Abstract

An observational, descriptive and longitudinal study was carried out at first, and an analytical cohort study at a second time, of 95 patients with non-small cell lung cancer in advanced stages, treated at the "Saturnino Lora Torres" Provincial Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital. and in 4 polyclinics in the city of Santiago de Cuba, during the period 2006-2013, in order to estimate survival in them after vaccination with CIMAvax-EGF and identify the factors associated with mortality, for which the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression, respectively. The overall survival at 2 years was 20.7%, with a median of 13 months, while the survival at one year after the vaccine was administered was 36.5%. For its part, stage IIIB, the favorable response to the first line of treatment, the chemotherapy-radiotherapy-vaccine combination and immunization on 4 or more occasions, made significantly longer survival possible. The unfavorable reaction to the first line of therapy was a prognostic factor for the increased risk of death in the affected population.