Impact of Induction Treatment on Postoperative Complications in the Treatment of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

IntroductionA main drawback of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is that it may increase operative morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of chemotherapy on these complications.MethodsPatient data were collected from the Epithor database. From June 2002 to June 2004, 3888 successive observations of surgery for lung cancer have been reported from 51 thoracic surgery departments throughout France. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify preoperative clinical characteristics of patients with significant postoperative complications.ResultsOf 3888 patients, 555 (14.3%) received induction chemotherapy. The groups were similar with respect to sex and the number of comorbidities. The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.01%. The multivariate analysis allows us to identify age (older than 65 years), sex (male), preoperative clinical score (moderate and severe), surgical procedure (right pneumonectomy and bilobectomy) as significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. No statistical difference was observed according to the delivery or preoperative chemotherapy. In total, 1219 patients (31.4%) had at least one postoperative complication. Using a multivariate analysis, we observed a significant correlation between morbidity and age (older than 65 years), sex (male), presence of comorbidities (two or more), clinical score (moderate), and type of operation (bilobectomy). Preoperative administration of chemotherapy did not significantly influenced postoperative morbidity.ConclusionsPreoperative chemotherapy is not associated with an increase in either the mortality rate or major surgical complications. Future randomized trials are warranted to confirm the survival benefit of this strategy.