A Phase 2 interventional study of therapeutic thoracic surgery and Afatinib in NSCLC Stage IV, sponsored by National Taiwan University Hospital. Recruiting at 2 sites in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 20 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-22.
Sponsored by National Taiwan University Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Our project is going to enroll patients with stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation and evaluate whether primary tumor resection after receiving the afatinib can prolong survival. This project is supposed to establish a new treatment protocol for stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation.
In Taiwan, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been the leading cause of cancer death, making a phenomenal impact on public health. By understanding the oncogenic driver mutations of NSCLC (e.g. EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement), the target therapy has taken the place of chemotherapy for its effectiveness and specificity, becoming the new standard of care for stage IV NSCLC. Despite the progress of medical treatment, the majority of patients with stage IV NSCLC still underwent disease progression after a period of time. Noticeably, more than half of the progression was restricted to the original sites of the tumor. It brings up the hypothesis that a combination of local consolidative therapy (e.g. surgery or radial therapy) and medical treatment could be beneficial for these patients. This has been advocated by the latest clinical trials as well.
Our project is going to enroll patients with stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation and evaluate whether primary tumor resection after receiving the afatinib can prolong the progression-free survival. This project is supposed to establish a new treatment protocol for stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutation.
Exclusion Criteria:
The surgery group would receive take 12 weeks of EGFR TKI before randomization. After randomization, the surgery group would receive thoracic surgery with maximal regional control intent. Patients continue afatinib 1 to 2 weeks after surgery until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The residual local and metastatic sites of disease could undergo either surveillance or maintenance radio-treatment at the discretion of the treating physician.
Procedure: therapeutic thoracic surgery · Drug: Afatinib
The control group would receive take 12 weeks of EGFR TKI before randomization. After randomization, the control group would receive afatinib until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The residual local and metastatic sites of disease could undergo either surveillance or maintenance radio-treatment at the discretion of the treating physician.
Drug: Afatinib
The surgery group would receive therapeutic thoracic surgery with maximal local regional control intent and would prescribe with maintenance afatinib therapy after operation. Patients continue afatinib 1 to 2 weeks after surgery.
The patient take afatinib treatment for 12 weeks treatment and then receive systemic image study examination before randomization. If exam result showed progression the patient would be excluded from the study. Treatment response was evaluated according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (version 1.1).
Also known as: Giotrif, BIBW 2992
2 year progression free survival rate
Will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. The stratified log-rank test will be performed to test the difference in time-to-event distributions between treatment groups. Stratified Cox proportional hazards model will be utilized to include multiple covariates in the time-to-event analysis and to estimate hazard ratios.
Time frame: start date of afatinib assessed up to 2 years
Progression free survival
Will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. The stratified log-rank test will be performed to test the difference in time-to-event distributions between treatment groups. Stratified Cox proportional hazards model will be utilized to include multiple covariates in the time-to-event analysis and to estimate hazard ratios.
Time frame: From the start date of afatinib assessed up to 4 years
Overall survival
Will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. The stratified log-rank test will be performed to test the difference in time-to-event distributions between treatment groups. Stratified Cox proportional hazards model will be utilized to include multiple covariates in the time-to-event analysis and to estimate hazard ratios.
Time frame: From the start date of afatinib assessed up to 4 years
Treatment-related adverse events
It refers to the number of adverse events related to afatinib monotherapy or platinum-based chemotherapy as evaluated according to CTCAE v4.0.
Time frame: From the start date of afatinib assessed up to 4 years
R0 resection rate
It is defined as the proportion of patients with negative surgical margin and no residual found under microscope after resection in all patients who have completed the thoracic surgery treatment.
Time frame: From the start date of afatinib assessed up to 12 weeks
resistant mutation events
Patient in the surgery and control group would receive next generation sequencing for tumor mutation check. The surgery group would receive next generation sequencing twice (1. after surgery 2. progression of disease or unacceptable toxicity.) The control group would receive next generation sequencing once (progression of disease or unacceptable toxicity.)
Time frame: 12 weeks to 4 years
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Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung→
National Taiwan University Hospital