[Surgical treatment for non-small cell lung cancer patients with synchronous solitary brain metastasis]

Improved Survival With Surgical Treatment of Primary Lung Lesions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With Brain Metastases: A Propensity‐Matched Analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database

Objectives

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with Brain metastases (BM) is an advanced disease with poor prognosis and low survival rate. Our study evaluated the survival benefit of primary lung resection with mediastinal lymph node dissection in NSCLC patients with BM using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-result (SEER) databases.

Methods

All cases analyzed were from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The data of the patients with BM of NSCLC from 2010 to 2016 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients (N=203) patients who underwent radical surgical treatment for primary lung lesions and patients (N=15500) who did not undergo surgery were compared. We successfully analyzed patients using propensity score matching (PSM). Kaplan‐Meier and Cox‐ regression analyses were applied to assess prognosis.

Results

The median survival in the surgery group was longer than in the control group (27 months vs 5 months; P < 0.001) in the overall sample, 21 months longer compared to the control group (27 months vs 6 months; P<0.001) in a PSM cohort. Cox regression analysis showed that underwent surgery patients in the propensity-matched sample had a significantly lower risk of mortality (HR:0.243, 95%CI: 0.162-0.365, P < 0.001) compared with untreated patients. Multivariate analysis identified the following as independent risk factors for NSCLC with BM: no primary resection surgery, age >65 years, worse differentiation, squamous cell carcinoma, lymphatic metastasis, no systemic therapy. Subgroup analysis revealed that radical resection of the primary lung provided a survival benefit regardless of marital status, tumor size, tumor grade, tumor T stage, and mediastinal lymph node metastasis after PSM.

Conclusion

Radical resection of primary lung can improve the survival of NSCLC patients with BM. Male, age>65years, poorly differentiated tumor, tumor size>5cm, and mediastinal lymph node metastasis were factors for poor survival.

Surgical Intervention Improves Survival for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Surgical intervention for stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still controversial. This study sought to evaluate the clinical effects of surgical intervention on survival in patients with stage IV NSCLCs and to identify the cohort benefitting the most from surgery.A retrospective study from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was performed to compare the survival of stage IV NSCLC patients who had undergone surgery with those who did not undergo surgery. Overall survival (OS) was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis.The total number of eligible patients was 43,538, including 16.8% in the M1a stage and 83.2% in the M1b stage. The percentages of patients with no surgery (NONE), only metastatic tumor resection (MTR), only primary tumor resection (PTR), and both primary and metastatic tumor resection (PMTR) were 89.0%, 6.7%, 3.5%, and 0.8%, respectively; the corresponding 5-year survival rates were 2.0%, 4.0%, 13.0%, and 20.0%, respectively (P < 0.001); and the corresponding OS rates were 11.1 months, 14.7 months, 29.4 months, and 34.9 months, respectively (P < 0.001). Notably, the pairwise comparisons of 5-year survival rate and OS among the subgroups were all statistically significant. The multivariate analysis showed that surgical intervention was correlated with longer survival in patients with stage IV NSCLC. The stratified analysis showed significant differences in the OS on strata of the M1a stage and strata of the M1b stage. In the M1a stage, patients with PTR had significantly better OS than those with NONE (P < 0.001) or MTR (P < 0.001) but showed no significant differences compared with those with PMTR (P = 0.174); patients with MTR did not have prolonged survival compared with patients with NONE (P = 0.185), and they also did not have prolonged survival compared with patients with PMTR (P = 0.052). In the M1b stage, pairwise comparisons of OS were all statistically significant among the subgroups (P < 0.001).Surgical intervention can prolong survival to different degrees according to the modalities of surgery in stage IV NSCLC.

Results of surgical treatment of primary lung cancer with synchronous brain metastases

Introduction

The surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with synchronous brain matastases is more effective than other therapeutic options, but this management is still controversial.

The aim of the study

The aim of the study was to evaluate the survival of patients after pulmonary resection NSCLC preceded by resection of brain metastases.

Material and methods

From 2007 to 2012, 645 patients underwent pulmonary resection for NSCLC at our department. In 25 of them (3.87%) thoracic surgery was preceded by resection of a single brain metastasis of NSCLC and a PET CT scan. No signs of nodal involvement or distant metastases were detected.

Results

The group consisted of 18 men (72%) and 7 women (28%). Average age was 57.62 years (46-70). In all cases, whole brain radiotherapy (5 × 4 Gy) was performed. The average interval between excision of brain metastasis and lung resection was 31.4 days (27-41). Pneumonectomy was performed in 1, lobectomy/bilobectomy in 17 and wedge resection in 7 cases. Pathological stage N0 was diagnosed in 17, N1 in 5 and N2 in 3 patients. Average survival was 18.68 months (4-74). Survival at 1, 2 and 5 years was 64%, 28% and 28% respectively. Average disease-free survival was 17.52 months. Histological type (p = 0.57) and G (p = 0.82) have no influence on survival. All the patients with hilar lymph node involvement died within 26 months and with mediastinal one within 12 months.

Conclusions

Surgical treatment of patients with NSCLC with synchronous brain metastases may prove beneficial in selected patients after excluding other distant metastases and lymph node involvement.