Surgery offers best survival for early-stage lung cancer, study finds
Surgery should remain the primary treatment for people with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are suitable for either surgery or a highly targeted form of radiotherapy, a new study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) suggests.
A recent study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine indicates that surgery remains the most effective treatment for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), compared to stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). Utilizing data from England's Cancer Registry, researchers analyzed 12,546 patients diagnosed with early-stage NSCLC between 2015 and 2020, comparing surgical resection to SABR.
The study found that surgery resulted in a 8.8 percentage point lower all-cause mortality rate within three years (21.6% vs 30.3%) compared to SABR, a highly targeted radiation treatment. However, for patients aged 80 or older, no significant difference in mortality was observed between the two treatments. Study co-author Eva Kagenaar highlighted the value of patient records in guiding treatment decisions, especially when clinical trials cannot provide answers quickly.
The research also reported higher cancer recurrence rates following SABR, but these differences were not statistically significant.
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