Long term follow-up of neoadjuvant-adjuvant combination treatment of IIIA stage non-small-cell-lung cancer: results of neoadjuvant carboplatin/vinorelbine and carboplatin/paclitaxel regimens combined with selective adjuvant chemotherapy according to in-vitro chemoresistance test.

AIM

A prospective study investigated survival of patients with stage IIIA non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with a combination of neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy.

METHODS

Consecutive chemo-naive patients with potentially operable stage IIIA NSCLC received carboplatin-based neoadjuvant treatment. Tumor cells harvested during surgery underwent methylthiazolyl tetrazolium blue (MTT) cytotoxic assay. After surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy was selected, where possible, according to MTT results.

RESULTS

A total of 65 patients were evaluated (31 received carboplatin/vinorelbine, 34 carboplatin/paclitaxel). The overall response rate was 67.7 % (95% confidence interval [CI]: 56.3-79.1 %) with downstaging in 52.3 % (95% CI: 40.2-64.5 %) and no significant differences between regimens. Median follow-up was 86 months: median overall survival (OS) was 32.1 months (95% CI: 7.4-46.5), median time to progression was 25.1 months (95% CI: 15.1-34.9 months) and five-year overall survival was 35.7 % (95% CI: 23.7-47.7 %). Forty-seven patients (72.3 %) underwent surgery and 43 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. Five-year survival after tumor resection was 49.5 % (95% CI: 34.2-64.8%), median OS was 59.0 months (95% CI: 34.2-83.1) and median disease free survival after surgery was 57.3 months (95% CI: 29.5-84.4). With MTT-directed therapy, median OS was 85.1 months (95% CI: 15.4-148.6) and the 5-year survival rate was 57.0 % (95% CI: 34.5-79.5 %); the trend for longer survival failed to reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

A combination of carboplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy achieved satisfactory survival rates in stage IIIA NSCLC, especially in patients with complete resection of tumor and those given MTT-directed adjuvant treatment. Our results suggest MTT testing may help optimise adjuvant chemotherapy.