Skin Rash Can Be a Useful Marker for Afatinib Efficacy.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Although afatinib has a strong efficacy, it can be toxic; hence, we aimed to determine markers of response to afatinib in order to assess prognosis.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Information on clinical background, therapeutic effects, and adverse events was collected retrospectively at one Institution from patients treated with afatinib as initial epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). We examined the relationship between different adverse events and their effects on prognosis.

RESULTS

Afatinib was used in 32 patients as the initial EGFR-TKI. Adverse events of grade 3 or higher including diarrhoea (12.5%), paronychia (6.3%), and stomatitis (3.1%) were experienced by patients. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 15.4 months. A relationship between skin rash severity and PFS was observed.

CONCLUSION

Grade 2 or higher skin rash might be a marker for long-term efficacy of afatinib when administered as a first-line treatment.