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Evidence summaries

Postoperative Radiotherapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

In early stage completely resected non-small cell lung cancer, postoperative radiotherapy decreases survival compared to surgery alone. Level of evidence: "A"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 11 studies with a total of 2 343 subjects with a median follow up of 4.4 years. Postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) increased the risk of death (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.31; 11 studies, n= 2343). This is equivalent to an overall reduction in survival from 58% to 53% at two years (an absolute detriment of 5% at two years, 95% CI 2% to 9%). Exploratory subgroup analyses suggested that this detrimental effect was most pronounced for patients with stage I/II, N0-N1 disease, whereas for stage III, N2 patients there was no clear evidence of an adverse effect.

    References

    • Burdett S, Rydzewska L, Tierney J et al. Postoperative radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016;(10):CD002142. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords