Combining systemic and local therapy – is there a benefit for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer?

This study looked at different combinations of local and systemic therapy for treating patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The authors concluded that this type of aggressive combination therapy could improve survival rates of these patients.

Roughly half of patients with NSCLC are not diagnosed until after the cancer has spread to other areas of the body. At this advanced stage, treatment options are limited. It is possible that a combination of systemic therapy (that spreads through the body), such as chemotherapy, and aggressive local therapy (which targets specific sites), such as radiation, may be beneficial for these patients. Therefore it is important to analyze the effectiveness of different treatment types for these patients to determine the best type of treatment.

This study examined the effectiveness of local therapy combined with systemic chemotherapy for patients with stage IV NSCLC.

The study included information on a total of 45,321 patients. These patients were divided into groups based on the type of treatment they received.

Group 1 included 1,237 patients who were treated with chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. Group 2 included 24,966 patients who were treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Group 3 included 1,339 patients who were treated with chemotherapy and surgery. Group 4 included 17,779 patients who were treated with chemotherapy alone.

Group 3 patients had the best outcome with a 42.7% survival rate at 3 years after treatment. Group 1 patients had a survival rate of 33.5%. Group 2 patients had a survival rate of 11.8% while group 4 patients had a survival rate of 9.3%.

Group 3 patients had the best survival rates across all patient subgroups tested.

The authors concluded that this type of aggressive combination therapy, especially chemotherapy and surgery, is associated with improved survival for patients with stage IV NSCLC.