The impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on the survival of postoperative stage IIIA non small cell lung cancer patients

We examined prospectively the impact of using adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in patients who underwent resection for stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. 31 patients had ACT and 30 had surgery only. There was no significant difference in patient survival between the two groups in the first 2 postoperative years. Beyond that lime there appeared to be a survival benefit in the ACT group. Given that 18 patients from this group are still alive, this benefit is likely to achieve statistical significance in the future.