Background: The efficacy of first-line chemoradiotherapy for overall survival (OS) might be confounded by the subsequent treatments in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we assessed the associations of progression-free survival (PFS) and post-progression survival (PPS) with OS after chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced NSCLC using patient-level data.
Patients and methods: Between January 2011 and December 2018, 45 patients with locally advanced NSCLC who had received first-line chemoradiotherapy and in whom recurrence occurred were analysed. The associations of PFS and PPS with OS were analysed at the individual level.
Results: Linear regression and Spearman rank correlation analyses revealed that PPS was strongly correlated with OS (r = 0.72, p < 0.05, R2 = 0.54), whereas PFS was moderately correlated with OS (r = 0.58, p < 0.05, R2 = 0.34). The Glasgow prognostic score and liver metastases at recurrence were significantly associated with PPS (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: The current analysis of individual-level data of patients treated with first-line chemoradiotherapy implied that PPS had a higher impact on OS than PFS in patients with locally advanced NSCLC. Additionally, current perceptions indicate that treatment beyond progression after first-line chemoradiotherapy might strongly affect OS.
Keywords: Glasgow prognostic score; chemoradiotherapy; locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer; overall survival; post-progression survival; progression-free survival.
© 2022 Hisao Imai, Daijiro Kobayashi, Kyoichi Kaira, Sayaka Kawashima, Ken Masubuchi, Masumi Murata, Takeshi Ebara, Yoshizumi Kitamoto, Koichi Minato, published by Sciendo.