Outcomes have improved in patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the U.S. since 1999, with the improvement presumably coming from radiation therapy, according to a study presented at this week's Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.
However, between 15% and 20% of patients diagnosed did not receive any type of treatment for this cancer, Dr. Nirav Kapadia, a chief resident in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, reported during a September 6 poster session.
Kapadia and co-presenters used the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER-17) database to analyze patterns of practice and outcomes of patients diagnosed with stage I NSCLC from 1999 through 2008. They identified 27,469 patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2003, and compared them with 26,195 patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2008.
Patients in the 2004-2008 group lived a median of one year longer (from 44 to 56 months) than patients in the 1999-2003 group. This included both treated and untreated patients.
The percentage of patients who had only surgery increased from 60% to 67%. Those who received both surgery and radiotherapy decreased from 14% to 13%.
Patients who received only radiotherapy treatments (3,509, or 14% of the total) between 1999 and 2003 survived a shorter period of time, a median of 16 months compared with 21 months for those who had only radiotherapy treatments (3,504, or 13% of the total) between 2004 and 2008.
Kapadia expressed concern with the researchers' discovery that 5,514 patients, or 20% of the total, diagnosed between 1999 and 2003 did not receive any treatment at all, and that this was reduced by only 4% during the latter time frame.
"In 2008, 16% of NSCLC patients were not receiving the care that they needed, and which could have extended their lives. We must identify the barriers to treatment so that every patient has hope for a cancer cure," Kapadia emphasized.
