Timing of radiation therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

This study wanted to find out how the timing of radiation therapy affected survival in patients with lung cancer who underwent surgery. The study found that there was no difference in survival based on timing of radiation therapy.

There are a number of options for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Surgery is very common, as is chemotherapy. When it comes to radiation therapy, it can be performed before the surgery to remove the tumor, or after. It is not known which of these timings results in the best outcomes.

This study consisted of 1278 patients. All of these patients had been diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, and they had all had surgery to remove a tumor and chemotherapy. The patients were split up into three groups. The first group consisted of 377 patients, and all these patients had radiation therapy before they had surgery. The second group also had 377 patients, and these patients had radiation therapy after they had surgery. The third group had surgery and chemotherapy, with no radiation therapy, and there were 524 patients in this group.

Overall it was found that there was no difference in survival between the patients who had radiation therapy before surgery, and those who had radiation therapy after surgery. Those who had radiation therapy before surgery survived for an average of 67 months. Those who had radiation therapy after surgery survived for an average of 61 months. The patients who had only chemotherapy survived for 61 months. However, these results were not found to be statistically significant.

The authors concluded that there is no difference in survival between patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had radiation therapy before surgery and those who had radiation therapy after surgery.  

This study is very large, and made it very clear that the results are accurate.

Discuss with your oncologist what kind of treatment timing will work for you.