ABSTRACT
Objective:This work presents the therapeutic advantage of induction therapy in patients withⅢA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer (ⅢA-N2 NSCLC). Methods:ⅢA-N2 NSCLC patients with ipsilateral mediastinal lymph node metastasis (>1 cm as shown by CT scan) who were admitted in our hospital between January 2008 and July 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. The response rates and survival outcomes of patients were presented and the prognostic factors were analyzed. Results:The 3-and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 57.7%and 34.2%, respectively, and the 3-and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 37.9%and 30.5%, respec-tively. No significant differences in OS and DFS were observed between R0 and R1 resections (P=0.118; P=0.369), between groups who received neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy and chemotherapy (P=0.771; P=0.953), between cases with and without clinical re-sponse (P=0.865;P=0.862), and among groups of different histological subtypes (P=0.685;P=0.208). However, patients with standard lobectomy or pathological nodal downstaging exhibited better OS (P=0.023 and P=0.024, respectively) and DFS (P=0.036 and P=0.025, respectively) than those who had extensive resections or persistent N2. Univariate analysis predicted better OS and DFS for both standard lobectomy and pathological nodal donwstaging. In addition, Cox multivariate analysis revealed that only pathological nodal downstaging could be considered as a favorable prognostic factor for DFS, while non-smoking and standard lobectomy are the corre-sponding variables for OS. Conclusion:Neo-adjuvant therapy with platinum-based doublet is feasible and useful in tumor and patho-logical nodal downstaging, which potentially improved resectability and survival rates in patients withⅢA-N2 NSCLC. Performing lo-bectomy or pathological nodal downstaging following induction therapy improved the patients' survival rate.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: We wanted to evaluate the prognostic factors for the pathologic N2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who were treated by postoperative radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 112 pN2 NSCLC patients who underwent surgery and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) From January 1999 to February 2008. Seventy-five (67%) patients received segmentectomy or lobectomy and 37 (33%) patients received pneumonectomy. The resection margin was negative in 94 patients, and it was positive or close in 18 patients. Chemotherapy was administered to 103 (92%) patients. Nine (8%) patients received PORT alone. The median radiation dose was 54 Gy (range, 45 to 66), and the fraction size was 1.8~2 Gy. RESULTS: The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate was 60.2% and the disease free survival (DFS) rate was 44.7% for all the patients. Univariate analysis showed that the patients with multiple-station N2 disease had significantly reduced OS and DFS (p=0.047, p=0.007) and the patients with an advanced T stage (> or =T3) had significantly reduced OS and DFS (p or =5 cm) and positive lymphovascular invasion reduced the OS (p=0.035, 0.034). Using multivariate analysis, we found that multiple-station N2 disease and an advanced T stage (> or =T3) significantly reduced the OS and DFS. Seventy one patients (63.4%) had recurrence of disease. The patterns of failure were loco-regional in 23 (20.5%) patients, distant failure in 62 (55.4%) and combined loco-regional and distant failure in 14 (12.5%) patients. CONCLUSION: Multiple involvement of mediastinal nodal stations for the pN2 NSCLC patients with PORT was a poor prognostic factor in this study. A prospective study is necessary to evaluate the N2 subclassification and to optimize the adjuvant treatment.