[Non-small-cell bronchial carcinoma with pathological N2 involvement: adjuvant radiotherapy versus adjuvant...

Fifty-eight patients, 28 of them included in a German multicenter study, were treated either with radiotherapy (5 x 2 Gy/50 Gy) or combined radio-chemotherapy (cisplatin 75 mg/m2 d1 in cases with pneumonectomy etoposide 120 mg/m2 d1-3) and Ifosfamid 1.5 mg/m2 d1-4, 3 cycles) following surgery in pN2-NSCLC. Metastatic disease or local failure was seen in 24 patients (43%), in the majority with distant metastasis (n = 21), in 4 patients combined local and distant failure. Time to progression (TTP) was 27 to 1172 days, median 244 days. Median survival of the whole group was 873 days (= 29 months), the 3-year survival 49%. Comparing the two groups there was an advantage (not significant) in favor of the combined treated group with a median survival of 1449 days versus 765 days (p = 0.22).