BAC and Tarceva - 1247316

Hi Judy, I hope you are doing well and enjoying your family.
Could you explain a bit more about what "this" is. Although Dr. West may know or even anybody else reading this may know. I'm curious.
Thanks,
Janine

I see Judy. Like I said I'm probably the only one that doesn't understand. :roll: I missed the title and the article is a BAC primer.

There is no current role for adjuvant EGFR TKI therapy in patients who have undergone surgery for a stage II NSCLC, including BAC. This isn't to say that some docs wouldn't do it, especially if they did mutation testing and found that the person's cancer has an EGFR mutation, though this would be very usual for a mucinous BAC (EGFR mutations are far more common in non-mucinous BAC). However, adjuvant Tarceva (erlotinib) isn't studied, isn't FDA approved, and would rarely be recommended in this setting.

-Dr. West

In general, I'd do the same chemo approach I would recommend for an adenocarcinoma if I thought the case merited chemotherapy. For adenocarcinomas, I favor a platinum/Alimta (pemetrexed) combination, cisplatin preferred over carboplatin in the adjuvant setting if a patient can tolerate it. However, since some BAC tumors behave in a very indolent fashion, I may be less inclined to recommend chemo for a BAC compared with some other histologies, stage for stage, if we have findings that lead me to think it is indolent (like it was a similar size on a prior scan from several months prior to the surgery). I think it's very appropriate to individualize here.

-Dr. West