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Surgery alone offers strong survival rate for lung cancer patients

Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

According to a recent study, the utilization of surgery alone in selected patients with stage one small cell lung cancer (SCLC) produces an excellent overall survival rate. Traditionally, treatment regiments include the use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

U.S. researchers analyzed the medical data of nearly 250 patients with stage 1 SCLC who had surgery to remove a lung. They found that the three- and five-year survival rates for the patient group who underwent lobectomies without radiation therapy were 58.1 percent and 50.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, patients who had their surgery supplemented by chemotherapy or radiotherapy had three- and five-year survival rates of 64.9 percent and 57.1 percent, respectively.

"We cannot say conclusively whether patients who endure invasive surgeries can go without additional adjuvant radiation or chemotherapy, but looking forward, the study findings create a platform for advancing the understanding of the role of surgery in therapy," concluded lead investigator James Yu of Yale University.

In the study, individual cases of cancer were identified using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.