Surgery in high-volume hospitals not commission on cancer accreditation leads to increased cancer-specific survival for early-stage lung cancer

BackgroundQuality of oncologic outcomes is of paramount importance in the care of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We sought to evaluate the relationship of hospital volume for lobectomy on cancer-specific survival in NSCLC patients treated in California, as well as the influence of Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation.MethodsThe California Cancer Registry was queried from 2004 to 2011 for cases of Stage I NSCLC and 8,345 patients were identified. Statistical analysis was used to determine prognostic factors for cancer-specific survival.ResultsA total of 7,587 patients were treated surgically. CoC accreditation was not significant for cancer-specific survival, but treatment in high-volume centers was associated with longer survival when compared with low- and medium-volume centers (hazard ratio 1.77, 1.474 to 2.141 and hazard ratio 1.23, 1.058 to 1.438).ConclusionThese data suggest that surgical treatment in high-volume hospitals is associated with longer cancer-specific survival for early-stage NSCLC, but that CoC accreditation is not.