In a nutshell
This study examined how effective additional chemotherapy alongside chemo-radiotherapy is in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The study found that additional chemotherapy did not bring survival benefits in these patients.
Some background
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be difficult to treat. There are a number of different treatment options available. There are some cases where the tumor cannot be surgically removed. In this case, a combination of other treatments is often used. A common treatment is for patients to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy, called chemoradiotherapy (CRT). It is not known if giving additional chemotherapy before or after CRT will give any survival benefit to patients with inoperable NSCLC.
Methods & findings
This study analyzed the results of twelve other studies including 2106 patients. All the patients in these studies had locally advanced NSCLC. There were three groups in the studies. Group 1 included patients who had only CRT. Group 2 included patients who had chemotherapy before they had chemoradiotherapy (I-CRT). Group 3 included patients who had chemotherapy after they had chemoradiotherapy (CRT-C).
Overall there was no difference in how the tumor responded to treatment between the CRT and the I-CRT groups. Also, there was no difference in how the tumor responded to treatment between the CRT and the CRT-C groups.
There was no difference in survival between the CRT and the I-CRT groups or between the CRT and CRT-C groups.
The bottom line
The study found that additional chemotherapy for patients with inoperable locally advanced NSCLC did not provide any survival benefit.
The fine print
This study analysed the results of a number of smaller studies. Further research is needed for stronger evidence.
Published By :
Cancer investigation
Date :
Sep 02, 2019
