A nomogram for predicting overall survival in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer treated with chemotherapy.

Background: Chemotherapy is a common treatment for patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there are few models for predicting the survival outcomes of these patients. Here, we developed a clinical nomogram for predicting overall survival (OS) in this cohort.
Methods: A total of 16,661 patients with resected NSCLC treated with chemotherapy were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We identified prognostic factors and integrated them into a nomogram. The model was subjected to bootstrap internal validation using the SEER database and external validation using a database in China and the National Cancer Database (NCDB). The model's predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were tested by calibration and concordance index (C-index).
Results: Age, sex, number of dissected lymph nodes, extent of surgery, N stage, T stage, and grade were independent factors for OS and were integrated into the model. The calibration curves for probability of 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS showed excellent agreement between the predicted and actual survivals. The C-index of the nomogram was higher than that of the Tumor-Node-Metastasis staging system for predicting OS (training cohort, 0.62 vs. 0.58; China cohort, 0.68 vs. 0.63; NCDB cohort, 0.59 vs. 0.57).
Conclusions: We developed a nomogram that can present individual prediction of OS for patients with resected NSCLC who are undergoing chemotherapy. This practical prognostic tool may help clinicians in treatment planning.
Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tlcr-20-1220). WL serves as an unpaid associate editor-in-chief from Apr 2018 to Apr 2021. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
(2021 Translational Lung Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)