Abstract / Summary
Objective: This study mainly focused on evaluating the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting beads bronchial arterial chemoembolization (DEB-BACE) in treating advanced refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, with an exploratory investigation of whether combining DEB-BACE with anlotinib could bring additional benefits and identification of key prognostic factors. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 104 eligible patients, including 64 who received DEB-BACE monotherapy and 40 who received DEB-BACE combined with anlotinib. Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazard model were used for survival and prognostic analyses. Primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and adverse events (AEs). Results: The entire cohort had a median PFS of 13.9 months and median OS of 17.0 months, suggesting a potential survival benefit of DEB-BACE in advanced NSCLC. As an exploratory analysis, the combination group showed numerical advantages in PFS (13.9 vs. 10.6 months), OS (20.3 vs. 14.0 months), and ORR, without significant differences (all p > 0.05). ECOG 2 was an independent poor prognostic factor for PFS (HR = 2.602, p = 0.020) and tended to affect OS (HR = 2.259, p = 0.050). No grade 4 AEs or treatment-related deaths occurred; the 5.8% grade 3 AEs were all manageable. Conclusions: DEB-BACE may be effective and safe as a treatment option for advanced NSCLC patients, although prospective controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings. The combination of DEB-BACE with anlotinib, as an exploratory strategy, shows numerical benefits but no significant superiority.