Stage I NSCLC: elucidating the prognostic factors
- Division of Thoracic Surgery, Duke University Health System, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Dr David H Harpole, jr, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3627, Durham, NC 27710, USA; harpo002{at}mc.duke.edu
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the number one cause of cancer related deaths.1 While early stage NSCLC portends the best survival following complete surgical resection, as many as 37% of patients with stage I disease have recurrence within 5 years of diagnosis.2 Several studies have investigated the role of adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage disease.3–6 However, the benefit of adjuvant therapy was mainly in patients with stage II and IIIA disease. Significant progress in improving the survival of patients with stage I NSCLC is lacking.
In this issue, Hung and colleagues7 address two very important issues with regard to the management of early stage NSCLC (see page 192): (1) the prognostic predictors of survival in patients with recurrence and (2) the optimal treatment for recurrent disease. In this retrospective study of 970 …
