Table 2.
Treatment modalities received as part of initial therapeutic strategy for early-stage NSCLC, overall and per disease stage at initial diagnosis.
| Overall (N = 319) | Stage I (N = 115) | Stage II (N = 98) | Stage III (N = 106) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequencies of treatment modalities, % (n/N) | ||||
| Any (non)pharmacologic treatment (SUR, ST, and/or RT) † | 96.2 (307/319) | 99.1 (114/115) | 96.9 (95/98) | 92.5 (98/106) |
| SUR (±RT or ST) | 67.4 (215/319) | 81.7 (94/115) | 84.7 (83/98) | 35.8 (38/106) |
| Receipt of (neo)adjuvant ST, among resected patients | ||||
| Receipt of neoadjuvant ST | 8.8 (19/215) | . | 3.6 (3/83) | 42.1 (16/38) |
| Receipt of adjuvant ST | 29.3 (63/215) | 8.5 (8/94) | 44.6 (37/83) | 47.4 (18/38) |
| Type of resection, among resected patients ⌠ | ||||
| Lobectomy | 77.7 (167/215) | 76.6 (72/94) | 81.9 (68/83) | 71.1 (27/38) |
| Segmentectomy | 7.9 (17/215) | 13.8 (13/94) | 3.6 (3/83) | 2.6 (1/38) |
| Wedge resection | 7.4 (16/215) | 9.6 (9/94) | 6.0 (5/83) | 5.3 (2/38) |
| Surgical approach, among resected patients (unknown for n = 4) ∫ | ||||
| VATS | 50.7 (107/211) | 71.0 (66/93) | 40.2 (33/82) | 22.2 (8/36) |
| Thoracotomy | 46.9 (99/211) | 24.7 (23/93) | 58.5 (48/82) | 77.8 (28/36) |
| Surgical Margin, among resected patients (unknown for n = 12) | ||||
| R0 | 95.6 (194/203) | 97.8 (90/92) | 93.4 (71/76) | 94.3 (33/35) |
| R1 | 3.9 (8/203) | 1.1 (1/92) | 6.6 (5/76) | 5.7 (2/35) |
| R2 | 0.5 (1/203) | 1.1 (1/92) | . | . |
| Most common reasons for not performing SUR, among unresected patients (unknown for n = 20) ‡ | ||||
| Poor cardiorespiratory reserve | 31.9 (23/72) | 38.9 (7/18) | 22.2 (2/9) | 31.1 (14/45) |
| Comorbidity | 29.2 (21/72) | 44.4 (8/18) | 22.2 (2/9) | 24.4 (11/45) |
| Advanced age | 20.8 (15/72) | 16.7 (3/18) | 44.4 (4/9) | 17.8 (8/45) |
| Unresectable disease stage IIIC | 12.5 (9/72) | . | . | 20.0 (9/45) |
| Patient frailty | 11.1 (8/72) | 5.6 (1/18) | 22.2 (2/9) | 11.1 (5/45) |
| ST (±RT or SUR) | 43.6 (139/319) | 7.8 (9/115) | 43.9 (43/98) | 82.1 (87/106) |
| Most common reasons for not receiving ST, among those not receiving ST (unknown for n = 28) ‡ | ||||
| Not indicated | 66.4 (93/140) | 83.9 (73/87) | 43.2 (19/44) | 11.1 (1/9) |
| Patient’s refusal | 9.3 (13/140) | 1.1 (1/87) | 20.5 (9/44) | 33.3 (3/9) |
| Tumor board decision | 7.9 (11/140) | 9.2 (8/87) | 2.3 (1/44) | 22.2 (2/9) |
| RT (±ST or SUR) | 22.3 (71/319) | 16.5 (19/115) | 14.3 (14/98) | 35.8 (38/106) |
| CRT (±SUR) | 10.0 (32/319) | . | 1.0 (1/98) | 29.2 (31/106) |
| cCRT, among those receiving CRT | 50.0 (16/32) | . | 100.0 (1/1) | 48.4 (15/31) |
| sCRT, among those receiving CRT | 46.9 (15/32) | . | . | 48.4 (15/31) |
| Both cCRT and sCRT, among those receiving CRT | 3.1 (1/32) | . | . | 3.2 (1/31) |
| Time from histological NSCLC confirmation to start of ITS, among patients receiving that treatment, median (IQR) ¶ | ||||
| Any (non)pharmacologic treatment, days § | 24.0 (7.0–39.0) | 25.5 (0.0–40.0) | 27.0 (7.0–42.0) | 21.5 (12.0–33.0) |
| SUR, days § | 26.0 (0.0–44.0) | 19.0 (0.0–34.0) | 26.0 (2.0–44.0) | 53.0 (21.0–101.0) |
| RT, months | 2.1 (1.3–3.5) | 1.4 (1.2–1.7) | 1.9 (1.0–2.5) | 2.9 (1.7–4.5) |
| ST, months | 1.2 (0.7–2.0) | 2.2 (1.9–2.4) | 2.0 (1.4–2.8) | 0.8 (0.5–1.3) |
| Pharmacologic categories and drug classes among patients treated with ST, % (n/N) | ||||
| Chemotherapy | 94.2 (131/139) | 100.0 (9/9) | 97.7 (42/43) | 92.0 (80/87) |
| Platinum compound | 93.5 (130/139) | 100.0 (9/9) | 97.7 (42/43) | 90.8 (79/87) |
| Folic acid analogue | 39.6 (55/139) | 66.7 (6/9) | 37.2 (16/43) | 37.9 (33/87) |
| Vinca alkaloid and analogue | 26.6 (37/139) | 22.2 (2/9) | 46.5 (20/43) | 17.2 (15/87) |
| Taxane | 14.4 (20/139) | 11.1 (1/9) | . | 21.8 (19/87) |
| Antimetabolite | 13.7 (19/139) | . | 11.6 (5/43) | 16.1 (14/87) |
| Topoisomerase II inhibitor | 1.4 (2/139) | . | 2.3 (1/43) | 1.1 (1/87) |
| ICI | 28.1 (39/139) | . | 4.7 (2/43) | 42.5 (37/87) |
| Anti-PD-1 | 20.9 (29/139) | . | 4.7 (2/43) | 31.0 (27/87) |
| Anti-PD-L1 | 7.2 (10/139) | . | . | 11.5 (10/87) |
| Targeted therapy | 0.7 (1/139) | . | . | 1.1 (1/87) |
| ALK TKI | 0.7 (1/139) | . | . | 1.1 (1/87) |
For variables not following a normal distribution in at least one of the study subpopulations, a uniform presentation of median (IQR) was applied. † Excluding supportive treatments; ⌠ Other types of resection were reported in ≤10 patients, each. ∫ Other surgical approaches were reported in ≤2 patients, each. ‡ Reported in ≥20.0% in any of the examined subpopulations; ¶ Imputation of the start of ITS has been implemented for 2 patients due to unknown day and/or month; § Nine patients have performed surgery before the histological confirmation of NSCLC. Abbreviations: ALK, Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase; cCRT, concurrent CRT; CRT, Chemoradiation; ICI, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor; IQR, Interquartile Range; ITS, Initial Therapeutic Strategy; N, number of patients with available data; n, number of patients with variable; NSCLC, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer; PD-1, Programmed Cell Death 1; PD-L1, Programmed Death Ligand 1; RT, Radiotherapy; sCRT, sequential CRT; ST, Systemic Therapy; SUR, Surgery; TKI, Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors; VATS, Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery.