ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY FOR COMPLETELY RESECTED STAGE-III NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER - RESULTS OF A RANDOMIZED PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

Two hundred nine patients with completely resected stage III non-small -cell lung cancer were randomized to receive postoperative cisplatin a nd vindesine chemotherapy or no further treatment. Before randomizatio n, patients were stratified by the histologic characteristics of their tumors (squamous versus nonsquamous cell carcinoma). Prognostic varia bles such as histology, performance status, extent of operation, and t umor ana nodal status of the eligible patients in chemotherapy (n = 90 ) and control groups (n = 91) were equally distributed. There was no s tatistically significant difference in disease-free and overall surviv al between the two groups. The 3-year disease-free survivals of the ch emotherapy and control groups were 37 % and 42 %, respectively. The me dian survival times (5-year survival) were 31 months (35 %) in the che motherapy group and 37 months (41 %) in the control group. These was n o different pattern in the first site of recurrence (local versus syst emic) between the two groups. This study failed to demonstrate the the rapeutic benefits of postoperative cisplatin and vindesine chemotherap y.