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Background:
In patients operated on for non-small cell lung cancer, several guidelines recommend a follow-up based on regular clinic visits and chest CT-scans. However, evidence to support these recommendations is poor, in the absence of randomized data. The IFCT-0302 trial is a randomized multicenter trial which compared 2 follow-up programs after complete resection for a clinical stage I, II, IIIA and T4 (pulmonary nodules in the same lobe) N0-2 NSCLC (TNM 6[th] edition). We present the results of compliance with the follow-up programs for the first 2 years after randomization.

Methods:
In the CXR arm, follow-up consisted of clinic visit and chest X-rays. In the CCT arm, patients underwent clinic visit, chest X-rays, thoraco-abdominal CT scan plus fiberoptic bronchoscopy (only mandatory for squamous cell and large cell carcinomas). In both arms, procedures were repeated every 6 months after randomization during the first 2 years, and yearly until 5 years, in the absence of recurrence or second primary cancer. Supplementary procedures were allowed in case of symptoms. Primary endpoint was overall survival.

Results:
Between January 2005 and November 2012, 1775 patients were randomized (CXR: 888; CCT: 887). Patient characteristics were well balanced between the two arms : males 76.3%, median age 62 years (range: 33-87), adenocarcinomas 56.7%, stage I-II 82.1%, lobectomy or bilobectomy 86,8%, pre- and/or post-operative radiotherapy 8.7%, and pre- and/or post-operative chemotherapy 45%. Surveillance was performed in 97% of patients at 6 months, in 94% at 12 months, in 90% at 18 months and in 84% at 24 months, and did not differ between the 2 arms. Intervals between randomization and visits were respected with no difference between arms (mean +/-SD in months from randomization: 5.93 +/- 0.84; 11.95 +/- 0.98; 18.05 +/- 0.99; 24.18 +/-1.30, respectively). In the 757 patients of the CXR arm, who had a follow-up visit at 6 months and no recurrence, 754 (99.6%) had a clinic visit and 730 (96.4%) a chest X-ray. In the 706 patients of the CCT arm who had a follow-up visit at 6 months and no recurrence, 702 (99.4%) had a clinic visit, 478 (67.7%) a chest X-ray, 678 (96%) a chest CT-scan, and 342 (48.4%) a bronchoscopy. Comparable compliance results were observed at 12, 18 and 24 months. In the CXR arm, supplementary thoracic CT-scans were done in 119 patients (15.7 %) at 6 months, in 96 (14.4 %) at 12 months, in 78 (13.2%) at 18 months and in 58 (11.4%) at 24 months. Other supplementary procedures were more frequent in the CCT arm than in the CXR arm, consisting mostly of brain imaging (at 6 months, in 93 (13.2%) and 39 (5.2%) patients, respectively, p<.001).

Conclusion:
Compliance with the follow-up programs was excellent in terms of timing. Chest X-ray was often omitted in the CCT arm. In the CXR arm, supplementary CT-scans that did not lead to a diagnosis of recurrence or second primary cancer were performed in 10 to 15% of patients. In the CCT arm, the most frequently performed supplementary procedure was brain imaging.

Background:
The NCCN surgical resection guidelines for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recommend lobectomy or greater extent of resection, negative margins, and examination of lymph nodes from the hilum, and 3 or more mediastinal stations. We sought to determine the impact of these guidelines on patients’ long-term survival.

Methods:
We conducted a retrospective review of patient-level data from all curative-intent NSCLC resections at 11 institutions in 5 Dartmouth Hospital Referral Regions in Eastern Arkansas, North Mississippi, and Western Tennessee from 2004 to 2013. Following a descriptive analysis of the cohort, we used a Cox proportional hazard model to assess the overall survival impact of attaining the NCCN guidelines. All models were adjusted for patient age and pathologic stage.

Results:
Of the 2,410 eligible resections, 314 (13.1%) were sub-lobar, 86.9% were lobectomy or greater; 90.2% had negative margins, 5.8% had positive margins, 4% unknown margin status; 73.2% had hilar nodes sampled; but only 25.9% of surgeries had three or more mediastinal nodal stations sampled. Overall, although only 18% of surgeries met all four criteria, there was a significant increasing trend from 4% in 2004 and 12% in 2009, to 39% in 2013 (p<0.001). Patients whose surgery met all four criteria had a 23% survival benefit compared with those who did not (Hazard Ratio [HR]: 0.77, 95%CI: 0.64-0.94, p=0.009). Patients with negative margins had 15% survival benefit compared to those with positive margins (HR: 0.85, 95%CI: 0.66-1.08, p=0.18); those with lobectomy or greater resection had a 14% survival benefit over those with sub-lobar resection (HR: 0.86, 95%CI: 0.70-1.04, p=0.12); those with hilar node sampling had a 3% survival benefit (HR: 0.97, 95%CI: 0.83-1.13, p=0.68); and those with three or more mediastinal stations examined had a 17% survival benefit over those without (HR: 0.84, 95%CI: 0.71-0.98, p=0.03). Figure 1



Conclusion:
Although only 18% of NSCLC resections in this cohort from a high lung cancer mortality region of the US met all four NCCN good-quality surgical resection criteria, the rate of quality attainment has significantly increased during the past decade. Patients whose resections met NCCN quality criteria had a substantially survival benefit, which is particularly driven by the recommendation for sampling of ≥3 mediastinal nodal stations. Intraoperative mediastinal lymph node retrieval should be a focus of quality improvement for NSCLC resections.

Background:
The MAGRIT study was a worldwide, multicenter, phase-3 double-blind, randomized trial evaluating efficacy of the MAGE-A3 Cancer Immunotherapeutic in resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00480025). We examined baseline patient and disease characteristics associated with overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) among patients assigned to placebo.

Methods:
Study participants were ≥18 years, with histologically proven, MAGE-A3-positive stage IB, II or IIIA NSCLC (AJCC 6.0). Participants had undergone complete anatomical resection of the tumor (lobectomy or pneumectomy) with mediastinal lymph node (LN) dissection or sampling according to standard of care. Up to four cycles of platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy were allowed. Cox regression models were used to explore characteristics that could predict DFS and OS. Factors statistically significant in univariate analysis (p<0.05) were included in multivariate models using a stepwise approach (p<0.05 to enter/remain in the model).

Results:
There were 757 placebo patients in the total treated population; median age 63 years, 76% male, 53% with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 34% with adenocarcinoma, 98% with performance status 0-1, 52% had received adjuvant chemotherapy.In univariate analyses, SCC, lower N-category and earlier disease stage were associated with improved DFS. Lower N-category, earlier stage and smaller tumor size were associated with improved OS. In multivariate analysis, N-category (HR 1.34, 95%CI [1.16-1.55]) and histological type (HR for SCC vs non-SCC 0.64, 95%CI [0.51-0.81]) remained significant for DFS. N-category (HR 1.47, 95%CI [1.21-1.79]) and tumor size (HR by unit increase 1.08, 95%CI [1.01-1.15]) did so for OS. No association was found between DFS or OS and age, gender, race, region, baseline performance status, quantitative MAGE-A3 expression, chemotherapy administration or type of chemotherapy, smoking status or type of LN sampling (minimal/systematic). Among patients with SCC, univariate analysis identified increased number of chemotherapy cycles and operative technique (pneumectomy) as associated with improved DFS (p<0.05). Only operative technique remained in the multivariate model. When including N-category (p<0.10 in univariate analysis) in the multivariate model, N-category and number of chemotherapy cycles were also selected. Lower N-category and smaller tumor size were significantly associated with improved OS, in univariate and multivariate analyses. Among patients with non-SCC, univariate analysis identified younger age, being female, lower N-category and earlier disease stage with improved DFS, and lower N-category, earlier disease stage and region (East Asia) with improved OS. N-category and gender, and N-category and region remained significant in the multivariate analysis for DFS and OS, respectively.

Conclusion:
This is the first prognostic factor analysis in resected NSCLC performed on data from a large, prospective randomized study. It highlighted that in terms of DFS, SCC patients have a better prognosis than non-SCC patients. N-category plays a major role in determining prognosis. Operative technique (pneumectomy), number of chemotherapy cycles (SCC) and gender (non-SCC) are also associated with outcome. Variables predictive for OS are N-category and tumor size (all) and region (non-SCC). These results confirm retrospective studies done within the context of TNM classification, but add that histopathology subtype is a strong determinant for DFS in resected NSCLC.

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Background:
Variation in the thoroughness and accuracy of pathologic lymph node (LN) staging may contribute to within-stage variation in survival after curative-intent resection of non-small-cell lung cancer. Accurate staging mandates effective collaboration between surgeons and pathologists. ACOSOG Z0030 tightly controlled surgeon practice, but not pathology practice. We tested the impact of the thoroughness of pathologic examination (using the number of examined LNs as a surrogate) on detection of LN metastasis and survival.

Methods:
We reanalyzed the mediastinal LN dissection arm of ACOSOG Z0030, using linear regression to examine the clinical and demographic factors associated with LN count, Cox proportional hazards models to determine the association between the number of LNs examined and survival of patients with pN0 and pN1 disease, and logistic regression to determine association of number of LN examined and the discovery of unexpected N2 LN metastasis. Overall (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), were analyzed without and with adjustment for T-category.

Results:
The 524 patients, had a mean age of 66.8 years, and were 52% male. Forty-four percent had adenocarcinoma, 27% squamous, 4% large cell, and 25% ‘other’ histology; 96% had T1/2 disease. Four hundred and thirty-nine (84%) were pN0, 63 (12%) pN1, and 21 (4%) pN2. In patients with pN0, pN1, and pN2 respectively, the mean number of mediastinal LNs examined was 13.5, 12.9, and 17.4; station 10 LNs were 2.4, 2.7, and 2.5; station 11-14 LNs were 4.6, 6.2, and 6.2; total LNs (from all stations) were 19.7, 21.3, 25. Tumor histology and pN-category were the only factors associated with the number of LNs examined: patients with squamous histology tended to have the most number of non-hilar N1 LNs examined (p<0.001); patients with pN1/N2 had more non-hilar N1 nodes than those with pN0 (p=0.005); those with pN2 had more N2 nodes examined than those with pN0 or pN1 (p=0.085). There was a consistent association between the number of LNs examined and survival. Patients with pN0 had better OS (HR 0.96; p=0.12) and RFS (HR 0.97; p=0.2) with examination of more non-hilar nodes; patients with pN1, had better OS and RFS with increased examination of LNs from N2 (OS HR=0.96, p=0.059; RFS HR=0.95, p=0.03) and all stations (OS HR=0.97, p=0.048; RFS HR=0.96, p==0.012). Adjustment for T-category strengthened these relationships between the number of LNs, pN-stage and survival. The likelihood of discovering N2 disease was associated with increased examination of LNs from mediastinal (odds ratio=1.04; p=0.035) and all stations (OR=1.03; p=0.035).

Conclusion:
Despite uniformly thorough surgical hilar/mediastinal LN harvesting, the number of LNs examined was associated with the likelihood of detecting nodal metastasis, and survival. Patients with more LNs examined were more likely to have LN metastasis, examination of more LNs was associated with better survival in patients within the same pN-category. This may indicate an effect of variable thoroughness in pathologic examination processes on the accuracy and prognostic value of the pathology nodal staging system. Heterogeneity in the cancer immune response may be an alternative hypothesis to explain these findings.

Background:
The 60,000 patients who annually undergo curative-intent resection for lung cancer in the US constitute the vast majority of long-term NSCLC survivors. However, >50% of patients die within 5 years after curative-intent resection. We sought to directly measure the effect of variability in surgeon practice on patients’ survival.

Methods:
We collected patient-level data from all NSCLC resections performed in 8 mid-south hospitals from 2009 to 2013. Recipients of preoperative adjuvant therapy were ineligible. We grouped surgeons by their resection proportions for pneumonectomy and wedge resection, resections with positive margins, and resections without mediastinal lymph nodes. We assigned scores of 1 = <5%, 2 = 5-15%, and 3 = ≥ 15% for pneumonectomy and wedge resection rates; 1 = <5%, 2 = 5-10%, and 3 = ≥ 10% for resections with positive margins; 1 = < 10%, 2 = 10-50%, and 3 = ≥ 50% for resections without mediastinal lymph node examination. The individual scores were then combined for an aggregate surgeon score. Surgeons were then grouped into three tiers: 1 =≤6, 2 = 7-8, and 3 = ≥9. A survival analysis was conducted for patients aggregated by surgeon score tier, adjusted for patient race, gender, and age at surgery, pathologic stage, and surgeon’s case-volume.

Results:
1,339 resections were performed by 39 surgeons: 17 surgeons (43.6%) in tier 1(aggregate score ≤ 6) operated on 623 patients (44.5%); 14 surgeons (35.9%) in tier 2 operated on 669 patients (47.8%); and 8 surgeons (25.5%) in tier 3 operated on 107 patients (7.65%). Figure 1 plots the Kaplan – Meier survival curve for patients in each surgeon tier. Tiers 2 and 3 patients had significantly higher hazard rates than tier 1 patients, with Hazard Ratio (HR)=1.76, 95%CI: 1.17, 2.64, p=.007 and HR=1.39, 95%CI: 1.11, 1.75, p=.004, respectively. Hazard rates between patients in surgeon tiers 3 and 2 were not significantly different, HR=1.26, 95%CI: 0.87, 1.82, p=.221. Figure 1



Conclusion:
We have developed a simple method of measuring the effect of variability in surgeon practice on patient outcomes. Patients who had resection by surgeons with lower rates of pneumonectomy and wedge resections, positive margins, and non-examination of mediastinal lymph nodes show improved survival over patients operated by surgeons with higher rates. Deficiency in attaining these quality parameters can be corrected at the individual surgeon level. Surgeon-level corrective interventions are warranted.

Background:
The survival impact of incomplete resection of NSCLC has never been systematically quantified, nor has the value of postoperative adjuvant therapy in this situation. Current clinical practice guidelines are based on single-institutional retrospective studies with few patients. The studies have contradictory findings about the survival impact of non-R0 resection and the benefit of adjuvant therapy.

Methods:
We analyzed pathologic stage I-IIIA NSCLC resections in the National Cancer Data Base from 2004 to 2011 to determine clinical, socio-demographic and institutional factors associated with margin involvement using multivariate logistic regression models. We compared the survival of patients with and without positive margins and evaluated the impact of postoperative adjuvant therapy, using proportional hazards models.

Results:
Of 112,998 resections over 8 years, 5335 (4.72%) had positive margins. This population represents >4-fold the sum of all previous English-language publications on margin-positive resections. The annual incomplete resection rate was stable over the 8-year time-span, ranging between 4.38% and 5.23% (trend-test p=0.07). Patient demographic and clinical factors associated with increased adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of incomplete resection included black race (p=0.006), age-based Medicare insurance (p=0.006), urban residence (p=0.01), squamous histology, high tumor grade, tumor overlapping more than 1 lobe, tumor location in the main bronchus, and advanced pathologic stage (p < .001 for all clinical factors). Surgery performed at Community Cancer Programs (p=0.002), institutions with high proportions of underinsured patients (p=0.01), and institutions with lower cancer resection volumes (p=0.006), also had increased aOR. The crude 5-year survival rate of patients with complete v incomplete resection was 58.5% v 33.8% (p < 0.001). The survival difference persisted when patients were stratified by tumor size, T-category and aggregate American Joint Committee on Cancer stage. The survival curve of patients with margin-positive stage I disease overlapped that of patients with completely resected stage II. Patients with incompletely resected stage II disease had worse survival than those with completely resected stage III disease. The survival detriment was consistent at 1, 3, and 5 years. After incomplete resection, adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved 5-year survival across all stages (p<0.01); radiotherapy was associated with worse survival in stage I patients (p<0.001), and had no significant impact in patients with stage II and III disease; chemo-radiation therapy had no significant impact in patients with stage I, but was associated with improved survival in patients with stage II and III disease (p<0.001).

Conclusion:
Margin involvement significantly impaired survival after NSCLC resection, irrespective of stage. Causative institutional and provider practices should be identified, to minimize this adverse outcome. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy mitigated the mortality risk independently of stage, whilst postoperative radiotherapy exacerbated the risk in patients with stage I disease, and chemoradiation therapy was associated with improved survival in patients with stage II and III disease. These findings need validation in prospective clinical trials.

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