Lung resection after initial nonoperative treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.

Objectives: The study objectives were to assess the outcomes of lung resection in patients with non-small cell lung cancer previously treated with nonoperative treatment and to identify prognostic factors associated with survival.
Methods: Patients who underwent surgery (2010-2022) after initial nonoperative treatment at a single institution were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Exclusion criteria included metachronous cancer, planned neoadjuvant therapy, and surgery for diagnostic or palliative indications. Cox models were constructed for overall survival and event-free survival. Survival of patients with stage IV disease was compared with survival of a nonstudy cohort who did not undergo surgery.
Results: In total, 120 patients met the inclusion criteria. Initial clinical stage was early stage in 16%, locoregionally advanced in 25%, and metastatic in 59% of patients. The indication for surgery was recurrence in 18%, local persistent disease in 23%, oligoprogression in 22%, and local control of oligometastatic disease in 38% of patients. Grade 3 or greater complications occurred in 5% of patients; 90-day mortality was 3%. Three-year event-free survival and overall survival were 39% and 73%, respectively. Male sex and lymphovascular invasion were associated with shorter event-free survival and overall survival; younger age and prior radiation therapy were associated with shorter overall survival. Patients with stage IV disease who received salvage lung resection had better overall survival than similar patients who received subsequent systemic therapy and no surgery.
Conclusions: In this selected, heterogeneous population, lung resection after initial nonoperative treatment for non-small cell lung cancer was safe. Surgery as local consolidative therapy was associated with encouraging outcomes and should be considered for these patients.
Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Statement Dr Adusumilli declares research funding from ATARA Biotherapeutics; is a scientific advisory board member and consultant for ATARA Biotherapeutics, Bayer, Bio4T2, Carisma Therapeutics, Imugene, ImmPactBio, Johnson & Johnson, Orion, and Outpace Bio; has patents, royalties, and intellectual property on mesothelin-targeted chimeric antigen receptor and other T-cell therapies, which have been licensed to ATARA Biotherapeutics; and has an issued patent method for detection of cancer cells using virus and pending patent applications on PD-1 dominant negative receptor, a wireless pulse-oximetry device, and an ex vivo malignant pleural effusion culture system. MSK Cancer Center has licensed intellectual property related to mesothelin-targeted chimeric antigen receptors and T-cell therapies to ATARA Biotherapeutics and has associated financial interests. Dr Rocco has financial relationships with Scanlan International, Medtronic, and Merck. Dr Molena serves on a steering committee for AstraZeneca and as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, and Genentech. Dr Park is a consultant for Intuitive Surgical, Medtronic, AstraZeneca, and CEEVRA. Dr Bott is a consultant for AstraZeneca. Dr Rusch reports grant support (institutional) from Genelux and Genentech, travel support from Intuitive Surgical, and travel support and payments from National Institutes of Health/Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials. Dr Sihag is a member of the AstraZeneca Advisory Board. Dr Isbell has stock ownership in LumaCyte and is a consultant/advisory board member for Roche Genentech. Dr Chaft serves as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Flame Biosciences, Regeneron-Sanofi, Guardant Health, and Arcus Biosciences and receives institutional research funding from AztraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, and Novartis. Dr Li has served as an uncompensated advisor and consultant to Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bolt Biotherapeutics, Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech, and Lilly; has received research grants to his institution from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bolt Biotherapeutics, Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech, Hengrui USA, and Lilly; has received academic travel support from Amgen, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, and MORE Health; and has intellectual property rights as a book author at Karger Publishers and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press. Dr Gomez reports research funding from Merck, AstraZeneca, Varian, and Bristol Myers Squibb and serves on the advisory boards of MedLearning Group, Medtronic, GRAIL, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Varian. Dr Rimner is a consultant for AstraZeneca, Merck, and MoreHealth, serves as an advisory board member for Merck, and reports institutional grant support from Varian Medical Systems, AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Jones serves as a consultant for Merck, AstraZeneca, Genentech, and DAVA Oncology. All other authors reported no conflicts of interest. The Journal policy requires editors and reviewers to disclose conflicts of interest and to decline handling or reviewing manuscripts for which they may have a conflict of interest. The editors and reviewers of this article have no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2023 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)