Impact of preoperative radiation on survival of patients with T3N0 >7-cm nonesmall cell lung cancers treated with anatomic resection using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database

Background: Very large nonesmall cell lung cancers (NSCLC) remain a therapeutic challenge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of surgery in the presence and absence of neoadjuvant radiation (NRT) on survival of patients with T3N0 >7-cm NSCLCs. Materials and methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was used to identify patients undergoing lobectomy or pneumonectomy for T3N0 NSCLC tumors >7 cm from 1999-2008. Patients were categorized into groups based on type of surgery performed and whether NRT was used. Five-year overall (OS) and lung cancerespecific survival (LCSS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and comparisons made using log-rank tests and Cox regression models. Results: There were 1301 patients evaluated, including 1232 undergoing primary surgical therapy (PST) and 69 receiving NRT. NRT was not associated with improvements in 5-y OS (48% versus 41%, P = 0.062) or LCSS (59% versus 52%, P = 0.116) compared with PST. Lobectomies were associated with better 5-y OS (43% versus 33%; P = 0.006) and LCSS (54% versus 43%, P = 0.005) compared with pneumonectomies. On multivariate analysis, NRT did not produce any significant advantage in OS (P = 0.242) and LCSS (P = 0.208). Pneumonectomies were associated with significantly worse OS (hazard ratio, 1.32; P = 0.007) and LCSS (hazard ratio, 1.38; P = 0.005) when compared with lobectomies. Conclusions: NRT, which most likely was a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, was not associated with improvements in OS or LCSS in patients with T3N0 >7-cm NSCLC compared with PST. When feasible, lobectomy appears more beneficial than pneumonectomy in terms of long-term survival for very large tumors.