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TUESDAY, Oct. 23, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Thermal ablation (TA) is a safe, effective treatment for stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study recently published in Radiology<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Johannes Uhlig, M.D., from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and colleagues used the 2004 to 2013 National Cancer Database to identify patients with stage 1 NSCLC treated with TA (1,102 patients) or stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT; 27,732 patients).<\/p>\n
The researchers found no significant difference in overall survival between TA and SRT during a mean follow-up of 52.4 months (survival difference, P = 0.69) in a propensity score-matched cohort with balanced distribution of potential confounders. During the course of the follow-up period, all survival rates were comparable between TA and SRT (one year, P = 0.76; two years, P = 0.43; three years, P = 0.32; five years, P = 0.81). For patients who underwent TA, unplanned hospital readmission rates were higher than the readmission rates of those who underwent SRT (3.7 versus 0.2 percent; P < 0.001).<\/p>\n
“Regarding overall survival, thermal ablation was non-inferior to stereotactic radiation therapy for primary treatment of stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n