Interestingly, even though both the metastatic pattern and ECOG PS have been described as predictors of survival in metastatic EGFR+ NSCLC (5, 9, 22), our results show clearly that their associations with OS are not affected by the de novo vs. secondary metastatic setting (Figures 2 and 3). The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.