Adjuvant chemotherapy for resected non-small-cell lung cancer

Because of the high rate of distant disease recurrence, the 5-year survival of patients who have undergone complete surgical resection of localized non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is approximately 50%. Initial results from early studies of adjuvant postoperative chemotherapy reported an adverse effect of alkylating agent and older chemotherapy regimens on survival. Cisplatin-based combinations were the first to show a survival advantage. A 1995 meta-analysis of these studies suggested a 13% reduction in the hazard ratio for death (HR = 0.87), leading to a 5% survival benefit at 5 years. Still, these trials involved limited numbers of patients (N = 1,394), and the results failed to reach statistical significance (P = .08). Of the five largest subsequent randomized trials of platinum-based adjuvant therapy, three showed a significant survival advantage. Although it is impossible to determine the reasons for the differing outcomes of these studies, several key features distinguish them, and the data suggest that medically fit patients with resected stage IB or II NSCLC should be offered chemotherapy with a platinum/new drug combination.