A phase II single-institution study of neoadjuvant stage IIIA/B chemotherapy and radiochemotherapy in non-small cell...

The relevance of a trimodal strategy in the treatment of lung cancer, consisting of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy followed by surgery, is a subject of ongoing clinical trials. We tested whether improvement of long-term survival can be achieved for patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer by this therapeutic approach.

We performed a retrospective analysis of a single-institution phase II study. Of 33 patients enrolled in the protocol between 1992 and 1995, we reviewed the clinical outcomes of 26 patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (stage IIIA and IIIB), which had been resected after combined chemotherapy and radiochemotherapy.

After neoadjuvant therapy, resection of the tumor was accomplished in all patients, and R0 resection was achieved in 92%. Histologic remission was found in 76% of these patients. Involvement of mediastinal lymph nodes was crucially important for the outcome. First, histologic clearance of the mediastinal compartment by neoadjuvant therapy resulted in a 27% 5-year survival rate. Second, patients with viable tumor in any of the mediastinal lymph nodes removed had a poor outcome (median survival 11.4 and 34.7 months in patients with and without viable tumor cells in the specimens, respectively; p = 0.01).

Histopathologic regression after neoadjuvant multimodal therapy including chemotherapy and radiotherapy was an important prognostic factor in a selected group of patients with locally advanced lung cancer.