Real-World Adoption of Adjuvant Therapies for Resected Stage IB–III Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
<b>Background</b>: Recent clinical trials support adjuvant treatment with novel immunotherapy and targeted therapy agents for selected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after resection. The "real-world" implementation of these treatments, however, remains unknown. This study evaluated trends in the uptake of adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy for patients with resected NSCLC. <b>Methods</b>: Patients with resected stage IB-III NSCLC within the Veterans Health Administration (2017-2023) were included. Use of adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and/or targeted therapy was evaluated over the study period. Factors associated with adjuvant therapy use were identified using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. <b>Results</b>: Of the 1980 patients included, 846 (42.7%) underwent adjuvant therapy. There was a modest but not statistically significant increase in adjuvant therapy use from 37.1% in 2017 to 45.9% in 2023. Use of adjuvant chemotherapy alone declined from 36.6% to 23.5%, while use of adjuvant immunotherapy (0.5% to 21.2%) and targeted therapy (0% to 1.2%) increased. Factors associated with adjuvant therapy use included younger age, fewer comorbidities, and higher tumor stage. <b>Conclusions</b>: Despite the increased use of adjuvant immunotherapy and targeted therapy for resected stage IB-III NSCLC, overall adjuvant therapy uptake remains low. Further efforts will be necessary to better incorporate these novel treatments into routine clinical practice.
Authors
- Molly C. Tokaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6371-4527)
- Nikki E. Rossetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5218-0902)
- Mayank R. Patel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0210-9750)
- Su‐Hsin Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5872-9556)
- Nahom Seyoum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3278-2798)
- Sara M. Malone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0361-8733)
- Arvind Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2865-1732)
- Martin William Schoen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6388-5553)
- Benjamin D. Kozower (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9059-5807)
- Brendan T. Heiden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0116-7377)
- Varun Puri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7761-8421)
- Steven Tohmasi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0904-6692)
- Whitney S. Brandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3839-7667)
- Yan Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4618-7654)
- Bryan Meyers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9805-0465)
- Daniel B. Eaton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9819-2159)
- Theodore Thomas
Institutions
- University of Washington (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- VA St. Louis Health Care System (US)
- Saint Louis University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cancers
- Published
- 2025-09-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17182961
- Primary Topic
- Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00