Abstract
Lung cancer with preexisting interstitial lung disease (ILD) is difficult to treat due to the risk of acute exacerbation of ILD. Nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab-) paclitaxel improves the overall response rate and reduces neuropathy more efficiently compared with conventional solvent-based (sb-) paclitaxel in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. However, it is not known whether the risk of acute exacerbation of ILD with nab-paclitaxel is higher compared with that with sb-paclitaxel. Advanced lung cancer patients with ILD treated with nab-paclitaxel (n=14) or sb-paclitaxel (n=14) were retrospectively reviewed. Acute exacerbation of ILD developed in 1/14 patients (7.7%) receiving nab-paclitaxel and 3/14 patients (21.4%) receiving sb-paclitaxel; the difference was not statistically significant. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the incidence of acute exacerbation of ILD with nab-paclitaxel with that of sb-paclitaxel in patients with advanced lung cancer with preexisting ILD. The results of the present study support conducting a prospective clinical trial to confirm the clinical benefit of this agent.