Treatment modality selection and prognosis of early stage small cell lung cancer: retrospective analysis from a single cancer institute

We evaluated the role of surgery followed by either chemotherapy ( ChT ) alone or chemotherapy and thoracic radiotherapy ( ChT/TRT ) versus sequential ChT/TRT in patients with clinical stage I or stage II small cell lung cancer ( SCLC ). Ninety‐six patients received surgery (complete resection) followed by either ChT alone or ChT/TRT ( G roup I ), while 49 patients were treated exclusively with sequential ChT/TRT ( G roup II ). The ChT regimens consisted of either carboplatin/etoposide or cisplatin/etoposide. The total TRT dose was 50–60  Gy . For the whole group ( n = 145), the median survival time was 54 months, and the 5‐year overall survival ( OS ) rate was 48%. The corresponding figures for G roup I were 91 months and 57%, respectively, and for G roup II , they were 34.6 months and 31.4% respectively ( P = 0.004). Multivariate analysis revealed that a K arnofsky P erformance S tatus score ≥ 80 [hazard ratio ( HR ), 0.281; P = 0.015] and the treatment modality including surgery ( HR , 0.503; P = 0.004) were independent favourable prognostic factors for OS .