Patterns of Care and Barriers to Utilization of Definitive Concurrent Chemoradiation Therapy for Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in Russia.

BACKGROUND: Definitive concurrent chemoradiation (cCRT) is offered to only 3% of Russian patients with stage III NSCLC. To determine the patterns of care and barriers to cCRT utilization in Russia, we conducted a survey of practicing radiation oncologists (ROs). METHODS: Electronic IRB-approved survey containing 15 questions was distributed to Russian ROs. Fisher's exact test or Cochran-Armitage test of trend was used to assess the associations between clinical experience, practice type, and patterns of care. RESULTS: We analyzed 58 questionnaires completed by ROs-16 respondents from tertiary referral hospitals, and 42 from community or private centers. A total of 88% of respondents formulate treatment recommendations in multi-disciplinary tumor boards. For unresectable stage III NSCLC, the most common recommendation is sequential CRT (50%), followed by concurrent CRT (40%), with an observed higher utilization of cCRT in tertiary centers (9/16, 56% vs 14/42, 33%). Of the respondents, 31% do not offer cCRT to their pts. Among reasons for avoiding cCRT are (1) poor performance of pts (76%); (2) high toxicity of therapy (55%); (3) lack of consensus among tumor board members (33%); and (4) preference for sequential CRT (31%). Only 3% do not irradiate elective LNs. Eighty-six percent of respondents counsel their NSCLC pts regarding smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite level 1 evidence, cCRT is rarely used in Russia for pts with locally advanced NSCLC, and preference for sequential therapy and concerns over high toxicity are the most common barriers. Education of Russian ROs may increase cCRT utilization, leading to improved survival, notably in the era of maintenance immunotherapy.

Gemcitabine combined with cisplatin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer.

This single-arm, multicenter, phase II study examined the objective response rate and toxicity after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. Treatment consisted of three 21-day cycles of gemcitabine (1000 mg/m(2)) on days 1 and 8 and cisplatin (75 mg/m(2)) on day 1 of each cycle. Surgery was performed 4-5 weeks after day 1 of the last cycle of study therapy. A total of 52 patients from five investigative sites in Russia were enrolled in the study, of which 50 (96.2%) received study therapy. Of the 49 patients who were evaluable for response, six (12.2%) had a complete response and 16 (32.7%) had a partial response, resulting in an overall response rate of 44.9%. Disease progression occurred in four out of the 49 (8.2%) patients. Radical tumor resection was performed in 38 out of the 49 (77.6%) patients. A total of 41 patients were assessed for a pathological complete response, of which four (9.8%) patients had pathological complete tumor regression. Postsurgical restaging was performed in 36 out of the 41 (87.8%) patients. Tumor downstaging occurred in 16 out of the 36 (44.4%) patients. Grade 3/4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were experienced by 28.0%/6.0% patients and 6.0%/2.0% patients, respectively. Grade 3 anemia occurred in 4.0% of the patients. Nonhematological toxicity was mild. Overall mortality was 30.0% (15 out of 50 patients), predominantly from progressive disease. The 1-year overall survival rate was 74.4% (95% confidence interval: 61.3-87.6%). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin showed a good safety profile with an encouraging possibility of curative surgery in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.