Surgery May Benefit stage 3b Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

Pulmonary Medicine Blog By Dr Deepu

Health Day (6/5, Salamon) reports on a study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery finding that for patients with stage 3b non-small cell lung cancer, patients who were treated with “a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment lived an average of almost 10 months longer than those receiving chemo and radiation alone.” The study made use of data from over 9,000 patients. Study author Dr. Varun Puri, assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, explained that the findings indicate that “An experienced thoracic surgeon should evaluate these patients” for surgery.