Background: The objective of the present study was to assess whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin was associated with an increased incidence of morbidity and mortality after major lung resection for lung cancer.
Methods: We analyzed 570 patients who underwent lobectomy or pneumonectomy for nonsmall-cell lung cancer at our institution from January 2000 through June 2005. Of these, 70 patients underwent three cycles of gemcitabine-cisplatin chemotherapy before operation for locally advanced disease. Propensity scores were constructed to match those patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy and lung resection with those undergoing surgery alone. The propensity score analysis yielded two groups of 70 well-matched pairs that were compared in terms of baseline characteristics and early outcome (morbidity, mortality, length of postoperative stay, intensive care unit admission).
Results: The two case-matched groups had similar morbidity (p = 0.8), mortality (p = 0.4), perioperative blood transfusions (p = 0.8) and intensive care unit admission rates (p = 0.8). Likewise, the length of postoperative stay did not differ between the groups (p = 0.9).
Conclusions: Gemcitabin-cisplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy appears to be safe before major lung resection. This finding warrants its use for efficacy studies of locally advanced and even early-stage lung cancer.