Evaluation of adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy for lung cancer.

One hundred eighteen patients with lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed to determine whether postoperative radiotherapy (RT) improves survival. Patterns of treatment failure and three year NED (no evidence of disease) survival rates were assessed according to extent of tumor spread, histology, and treatment method. Patients with hilar or mediastinal node metastases were at higher risk of local failure compared to those with negative nodes. Postoperative RT reduced local recurrence and improved 3 year survival among patients with positive nodes. However, postoperative RT did not improve survival among those with negative nodes. Our data indicated that patients with positive hilar or mediastinal nodes may require postoperative RT to improve survival.