Patient-Reported Outcomes as Inter-Radiographic Predictors of Response in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: Minimally-invasive biomarkers have been used as important indicators of treatment response and progression in cancers such as prostate and ovarian. Unfortunately, all biomarkers are not prognostic in all cancer types and are often not routinely collected. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) provide a non-obtrusive, personalized measure of a patient’s quality of life and symptomatology, reported directly from the patient and are increasingly collected as part of routine care. Previous literature has shown correlations between specific PROs (i.e., insomnia, fatigue) and overall survival. Though promising, these studies often only consider single time points and ignore patient-specific dynamic changes in individual PROs, which might be early predictors of treatment response or progression. Experimental Design: In this study, PRO dynamics were analyzed to determine if they could be used as inter-radiographic predictors of tumor volume changes among 85 non-small cell lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. PRO questionnaires and tumor volume scans were completed biweekly and monthly, respectively. Correlation and predictive analysis were conducted to identify specific PROs that could accurately predict patient response. Results: Changes in tumor volume over time were significantly correlated with dizziness (p