(ChemotherapyAdvisor) – Perioperative chemotherapy may be beneficial in patients with resected small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) or large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), according to a team of researchers of Surgical Centre Marie Lannelongue, Le Plessis Robinson, France. This conclusion is based on study entitled “Effect of Chemotherapy in Patients with Resected Small-Cell or Large-Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma,” which is published in the July issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
“The benefit of perioperative chemotherapy in resected SCLC or LCNEC is not clear,” the investigators wrote. The benefits were evaluated in this retrospective analysis of perioperative treatments with survival follow up.
The investigators reported that among 74 patients with tumor resection, 45 had received chemotherapy. Eleven patients were women. Four patients in the surgery-alone group and 11 in the surgery-plus-chemotherapy group had LCNEC. “There were 10 node positive tumors and only two incomplete resections in the surgery group vs. 27 node positive tumors and 3 incomplete resections in the surgery-plus-chemotherapy group,” the investigators wrote. Among the patients with a survival or a follow-up of at least six months, median survival was 2.3 and 6.1 years in the surgery (n=20) and surgery plus chemotherapy (n=39) groups, respectively, such that the hazard ratio for death was 0.48 (95% confidence interval, 0.24–0.99, P=0.04).
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The investigators concluded that perioperative chemotherapy may be beneficial in patients with resected SCLC or LCNEC.