Significance of overall concurrent chemoradiotherapy duration on survival outcomes of stage IIIB/C non-small-cell lung carcinoma patients: Analysis of 956 patients

Abstract

Background To investigate the detrimental effects of prolonged overall radiotherapy duration (ORTD) on survival outcomes of stage IIIB/C NSCLC patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (C-CRT) Methods The study cohort consisted of 956 patients who underwent C-CRT for stage IIIB/C NSCLC. Primary endpoint was the association between the ORTD and overall survival (OS) with locoregional progression-free survival (LRPFS) and PFS comprising the secondary endpoints. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized for accessibility of the cut-off that interacts with survival outcomes. Multivariate Cox model was utilized to identify the independent associates of survival outcomes. Results The ROC curve analysis exhibited significance at 49 days of ORTD cut-off that dichotomized patients into ORTD<50 versus ORTD50 days groups for OS [area under the curve (AUC): 82.8%; sensitivity: 81.1%; specificity: 74.8%], LRPFS (AUC: 91.9%; sensitivity: 90.6%; specificity: 76.3%), and PFS (AUC: 76.1%; sensitivity: 72.4%; specificity: 68.2%), respectively. Accordingly, ORTD50 days group had significantly shorter median OS (P<0.001), LRPFS (P<0.001), and PFS (P<0.001); and 10-year actuarial locoregional control (P<0.001) and distant metastases-free (P<0.011) rates than the ORTD<50 days group. The ORTD retained its significant association with survival outcomes at multivariate analyses independent of the other favorable covariates (p<0.001, for OS, LRPFS, and PFS): Stage IIIB disease (versus IIIC), lymph node bulk <2 cm (versus 2 cm), and 2–3 chemotherapy cycles (versus 1). The higher sensitivity for LRPFS (90.6%) than PFS (72.4%) on ROC curve analysis suggested the prolonged ORTD-induced decrements in locoregional control rates as the major cause of the poor survival outcomes. Conclusions Longer ORTD beyond 50 days was associated with significantly poorer OS, LRPFS and PFS outcomes, where reduced locoregional control rates appeared to be the main causative.