A Matter of Comprehensive Informed Consent: Short-Term Mortality Rates With Definitive Treatment Options in Elderly Stage I NSCLC

Background: Although lobectomy is the standard of care in stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), medical comorbidities increase surgical risk in elderly patients. No population-based studies compare short-term mortality (STM) for surgery (STM-S), radiation (STM-R), and observation (STM-O) in elderly patients with stage I NSCLC. Methods: A total of 60,466 biopsy-proven stage I NSCLC cases diagnosed between 2004 and 2012 were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Patient characteristics were compared using χ2 test. Age was divided into 5-year subsets (60 to 64 to 90+ y) for analysis. Similar to other series, STM was defined as death within 2 months of diagnosis. Univariate and multivariate analysis for STM was performed using odds ratio, Kaplan-Meier actuarial method, and Cox proportional hazard ratio. Results: In younger patients, STM-S rates are lower compared with STM-R (1.6% vs. 3.4% in patients 60 to 64 y, P
Source: American Journal of Clinical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Original Articles: Practice of Oncology Source Type: research