New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery improves survival, study suggests

Date:
February 28, 2011
Source:
Boston University Medical Center
Summary:
Researchers have found that patients with node negative T3 and T4 non-small lung cancer who underwent chemotherapy before surgery had more than three times the survival rate than patients who only underwent surgery.
Share:
FULL STORY

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that patients with node negative T3 and T4 non-small lung cancer who underwent chemotherapy before surgery had more than three times the survival rate than patients who only underwent surgery. These findings currently appear on-line in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

The study looked at a total of 110 patients who underwent surgical resection for invasive T3 and T4 non-small lung cancer between 1979 and 2008. Forty-seven patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and concurrent high dose radiation therapy prior to surgery (Chemo-RT group). Sixty-three patients underwent surgery without receiving induction chemoradiotherapy (Surg group) but instead received neoadjuvant radiation, adjuvant radiation, adjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy or brachytherapy. Seventeen received surgery alone.

Median survival was greatest for those who received surgery and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (90 months) compared with patients in the Surg group who also received adjuvant external radiation therapy (25 months), surgery and neoadjuvant external radiation (19 months) or surgery alone (19 months).

"Our study found aggressive treatment of node-negative invasive T3 and T4 NSCLC with induction chemoradiotherapy may significantly improve survival," said lead author Benedict Daly, MD, chair of the department of cardiothoracic surgery at BUSM.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Boston University Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Boston University Medical Center. "Chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery improves survival, study suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 February 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228121456.htm>.
Boston University Medical Center. (2011, February 28). Chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery improves survival, study suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228121456.htm
Boston University Medical Center. "Chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery improves survival, study suggests." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228121456.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES