[First treatment strategies in the 2 years following lung cancer diagnosis. ESCAP-2011-CPHG, a real-life study carried out in French general hospitals]

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of the ESCAP-2011-CPHG cohort study was to perform a real-life analysis of therapeutic strategies used during the first 2years of follow-up after a diagnosis of primary lung cancer. This paper presents the study and its first results in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Pulmonologists in the respiratory disease departments of 53 general hospitals consecutively included all patients aged 18years and over with lung cancer newly diagnosed in 2010.

Results: Of the 3943 patients included, 3418 (mean age: 65.4 years; male: 76%; never smokers: 12%) had NSCLC (adenocarcinoma: 53%; stages 0-II, IIIA, IIIB and IV: 18, 14, 9 and 59%, respectively). Mean follow-up was 13.2 (SD: 10.1) months; mean number of strategies implemented was 2 (SD: 1.3). Overall, 62% of patients had chemotherapy in the first strategy (74% in the second strategy); the rate of chemotherapy alone increased from 6 to 56% with cancer stage.

Conclusions: ESCAP-2011-CPHG opens the way to many possible analyses of the therapeutic strategies currently implemented in French hospitals, comparing strategies, survival or patient characteristics.

Keywords: Cancer bronchique primitif; Epidemiologic study; France; Primary lung cancer; Stade; Stage; Traitement; Treatment; Étude épidémiologique.