RESUMEN
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of surgery combined with conventional chemoradiotherapy in the treatment of limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC), and analyze the factors affecting prognosis. METHODS: A total of 122 LS-SCLC patients were diagnosed via histopathology, of which 61 were operated combined with chemoradiotherapy (comprehensive treatment group), and 61 underwent conventional chemoradiotherapy (chemoradiotherapy group). The Kaplan-Meier method wand log-rank test were used to analyze the overall survival of the patients. Cox proportional hazard regression model was utilized for multivariate analysis of prognosis. RESULTS: The median survival time of the patients was 27 months in the comprehensive treatment group and 22 months in chemoradiotherapy group. The 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 91.8% (56/61), 49.2% (30/61) and 31.1% (19/61), respectively, in the comprehensive treatment group, and 80.3% (49/61), 32.8% (20/61) and 23.0% (14/61), respectively, in the chemoradiotherapy group. The results of log-rank test on the overall survival rate of the two groups of patients revealed that the overall survival rate was overtly higher in the comprehensive treatment group than that in the chemoradiotherapy group. According to stratification analysis of the TNM stage, the 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates of the patients with stage I + II LS-SCLC were evidently higher in the comprehensive treatment group than those in the chemoradiotherapy group. Multivariate analysis results uncovered that the clinical TNM stage was an independent factor affecting the survival time of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery combined with chemoradiotherapy may benefit the patients with stage I and II LS-SCLC, while radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy is more suitable for the patients at stage III. TNM stage is an independent factor affecting the prognosis of LS-SCLC.