Long-Term Outcomes of Lobectomy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer After Definitive Radiation Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Salvage surgical resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients initially treated with definitive chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be performed safely, but the long-term benefits are not well characterized.
METHODS: Perioperative complications and long-term survival of all patients with NSCLC who received curative-intent definitive radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy, followed by lobectomy from 1995 to 2012 were evaluated.
RESULTS: During the study period, 31 patients met the inclusion criteria. Clinical stage distribution was stage I in 2 (6%), stage II in 5 (16%), stage IIIA in 15 (48%), stage IIIB in 5 (16%), stage IV in 3 (10%), and unknown in 1 (3%). The reasons surgical resection was initially not considered were: patients deemed medically inoperable (5 [16%]); extent of disease was considered unresectable (21 [68%]); small cell lung cancer misdiagnosis (1 [3%]), and unknown (4 [13%]). Definitive therapy was irradiation alone in 2 (6%), concurrent chemoradiotherapy in 28 (90%), and sequential chemoradiotherapy in 1 (3%). The median radiation dose was 60 Gy. Patients were subsequently referred for resection because of obvious local relapse, medical tolerance of surgical intervention, or posttherapy imaging suggesting residual disease. The median time from radiation to lobectomy was 17.7 weeks. There were no perioperative deaths, and morbidity occurred in 15 patients (48%). None of the 3 patients with residual pathologic nodal disease survived longer than 37 months, but the 5-year survival of pN0 patients was 36%. Patients who underwent lobectomy for obvious relapse (n = 3) also did poorly, with a median overall survival of 9 months.
CONCLUSIONS: Lobectomy after definitive radiotherapy can be done safely and is associated with reasonable long-term survival, particularly when patients do not have residual nodal disease.