Impact of Staging With Positron-emission Tomography (PET) and Comorbidities on Management and Survival of American Veterans With Stage I-III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Objectives: The extent of whether staging by fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (PET) impacts outcomes in American Veterans with stage I-III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown. We investigated impact of fluorodeoxyglucose PET staging and age-adjusted comorbidities (AACs) on management and survival of NSCLC in this group. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review to identify with NSCLC who underwent initial PET scan and received care at the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital between 2005 and 2010. Survival outcomes were estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods, quantile regressions, and Cox proportional hazards models, after accounting for age at diagnosis, sex, AAC, and initial treatment. Results: The number of PET scans increased from 0 in 2005 to 66 in 2010. There were 170 men, 4 women, median age 64 years. Median AAC score was 4. In CS I (n=54), initial PET upstaged 5 patients. Median survival for no change in PET stage was 27.43 versus 67 months for upstaged patients (P=0.034). For CS II (n=15), initial PET scan upstaged 1 patient. Median survival for no change in PET stage was 16.53 versus 2.8 months for upstaged patient (P=0.335). For CS III (n=104), PET scan upstaged 20 patients. Median survival for no change in PET stage was 13.3 versus 3.8 months for upstaged patients (P=0.016). Conclusions: PET scans resulted in upstaging in 15% in CS I-III NSCLC. AAC scores dictated therapy decisions and outcomes more than PET staging. Veterans had lower 5-year survival rates (26.3%, 15.8%/13.4%) compared with 53% and 27% in age/sex/time-period matched SEER data for stage I-II/III NSCLC.

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