PORT Can Improve Survival for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to new findings presented at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology in Chicago, Illinois, researchers have found that patients who underwent post-operative radiation therapy (PORT) survived 4 months longer, on average, compared with patients with similar cancer characteristics who did not receive PORT.

For the study, researchers identified 2,115 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the National Cancer Data Base. In order to be included, patients had to have had surgically removed NSCLC with N2 lymph node involvement and received chemotherapy. Of those, 43% underwent PORT while nearly 57% did not.

Results showed that patients who received PORT had a median survival time of 42 months compared with 38 months among patients not treated with PORT (P = 0.048). Factors associated with improved overall survival were 1-2 involved lymph nodes, adenocarcinoma histology, female age, higher income, being from a rural or urban setting, and younger age.

The findings suggest the importance of PORT for patients with NSCLC with involved mediastinal lymph nodes as it can improve overall survival by about 4 months. Researchers recommend that PORT be considered in addition to chemotherapy following removal of NSCLC.