New survival data published for lung cancer treatment
Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival for certain patients with lung cancer, a recent study published online has shown (Lancet Oncology,
16 August 2006).
Researchers followed 840 patients with completely resected stage IB,
II and IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer assigned to observation or adjuvant
chemotherapy with vinorelbine plus cisplatin.
They found that the adjusted risk for death was reduced in patients in
the chemotherapy group compared with those in the observation group (hazard
ratio 0.80, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.66–0.96; P=0.017)
after a median follow-up of 76 months (range 43–116 months).
Overall survival at five years with chemotherapy improved by 8.6 per
cent, which was maintained at seven years (8.4 per cent), say the authors.
Subgroup analysis of the data indicates that the main benefit of vinorelbine/cisplatin
treatment was seen for patients with stage II and stage IIIA disease.
“
To identify subsets of patients who could have greater benefit from adjuvant
chemotherapy, genetic assessment of the patients in this trial is under
way,” the authors reveal. |
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