Favorable outcomes with chemoradiation and surgery for locally advanced non- small cell lung cancer: The BC Cancer Agency Vancouver experience

Text: Background: The role of surgery following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains controversial, with high surgical mortality rates reported in a large randomized clinical trial. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of concurrent chemoradiation with or without surgery over an 11 period at the BC Cancer Agency. Methods: Patients were identified by the Vancouver Centre Pharmacy database. Charts were reviewed and data extracted included patient characteristics, weight loss, performance status, and method of mediastinal staging. Outcome measures were overall survival, pathological response rate, and treatment-associated morbidity and mortality. Results: Between January 1999-2010, 177 patients were identified with locally advanced NSCLC (stage IIIA/B) treated with platinum and etoposide and ≥40Gy radiation therapy, with or without surgical resection. The majority of treatment plans were reached by a multidisciplinary conference consensus. 74% (n=131) of patients received chemoradiation alone (bimodality therapy) and 36% (n=46) received chemoradiation followed by surgical resection (trimodality therapy). Among the trimodality therapy group, 16 patients underwent pneumonectomy and 30 lobectomy. Table 1: Treatment-associated complications and survival Conclusions: In this series, bimodality therapy for patients with locally advanced NSCLC had similar treatment associated mortality and survival outcomes as reported in the literature. Trimodality therapy was associated with low treatment mortality rates and favourable survival. These two groups cannot be directly compared in this retrospective study. However, these results support a multidisciplinary approach to identify and Bimodality Trimodality Complications Hospitalization 24% 11% Death on treatment 5% 2% Survival Median OS 19.6 mo 68 mo 5-year OS 17.5% 53.2% carefully select patients with locally advanced NSCLC to undergo additional surgical resection following concurrent chemoradiation.