Anlotinib as a post-third-line therapy for the treatment of advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer

There is no standard treatment strategy for the third-line and above treatment of advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to investigate the effects of anlotinib in patients with NSCLC. Data was collected from a group of advanced lung cancer patients who received anlotinib as a third-line or post-third-line treatment between 2017 and 2019. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the progression-free survival (PFS) of these lung cancer patients treated with anlotinib. Univariate analysis was performed using the log-rank test. Forest plot was used for subgroup analysis.Our study included 44 patients. Oral anlotinib was used as a third-line treatment to treat 26 patients, and as a fourth-line or multiline treatment in 18 patients. The objective control rate was 5%, the disease control rate was 89%, and the median PFS was 4.0 months with a 95% confidence interval. Common toxicities included anorexia, hypertension, and fatigue. Anlotinib demonstrated promising efficacy and was well tolerated with controlled toxicity in patients with NSCLC.