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. 2020 Sep 10:14:1179554920950548.
doi: 10.1177/1179554920950548. eCollection 2020.

Results of the Austrian National Lung Cancer Audit

Otto C Burghuber  1   2 , Klaus Kirchbacher  3 , Andrea Mohn-Staudner  4 , Maximilian Hochmair  1 , Marie-Kathrin Breyer  4 , Michael Studnicka  5 , Michael Rolf Mueller  2   6 , Petra Feurstein  7 , Andrea Schrott  1 , Bernd Lamprecht  8 , Josef Eckmayr  9 , Friedrich Renner  10 , Josef Bolitschek  11   12 , Wolfgang Pohl  13 , Peter Schenk  14 , Peter Errhalt  15 , Peter Cerkl  16 , Bernhard Baumgartner  17 , Meinhard Kneussl  3 , Sylvia Hartl  4
Affiliations

Results of the Austrian National Lung Cancer Audit

Otto C Burghuber et al. Clin Med Insights Oncol. .

Abstract

Objectives: The Austrian Lung Cancer Audit (ALCA) is a pilot study to evaluate clinical and organizational factors related to lung cancer care across Austria.

Materials and methods: The ALCA is a prospective, observational, noninterventional cohort study conducted in 17 departments in Austria between September 2013 and March 2015. Participating departments were selected based on an annual case load of >50 patients with lung cancer.

Results: The ALCA included 745 patients, representing 50.5% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases during that time period. In 75.8% of patients, diagnosis was based on histology, and in 24.2% on cytology; 83.1% had non-small-cell lung cancer, 16.9% small-cell lung cancer; and only 4.6% had to be classified as not otherwise specified cancers. The median time elapsed between first presentation at hospital and diagnosis was 8 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 4-15; range: 0-132); between diagnosis and start of treatment it was 15 days for chemotherapy (IQR: 9-27; range: 0-83), 21 days (IQR: 10-35; range: 0-69) for radiotherapy, and 24 days (IQR: 11-36; range: 0-138) for surgery, respectively. In 150 patients undergoing surgical treatment, only 3 (2.0%; n = 147, 3 missings) were seen with postoperative restaging indicating unjustified surgery. One-year follow-up data were available for 723 patients, indicating excellent 49.8% survival; however, a wide range of survival between departments (range: 37.8-66.7) was seen.

Conclusions: The ALCA conducted in high case load departments indicated management of lung cancer in accordance with international guidelines, and overall excellent 1-year survival.

Keywords: Lung cancer; audit; outcomes research; quality of care.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: O.C.B. reports grants for the LEAD study from Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Astra Zeneca, Teva, Pfizer, Chiesi, Novartis; nonfinancial support from the Municipal Department of Health in Vienna, and Air Liquide, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Astra Zeneca, Chiesi, MSD, Roche, and GSK outside the submitted work. M.S. reports consultancy fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Astra Zeneca, Chiesi, Almirall, and Novartis; payment for lectures including service on speakers’ bureaus from Boehringer Ingelheim, Astra Zeneca, Almirall, GSK, and Novartis. S.H. reports grants from Glaxo Smith Cline, Novartis Pharma, Astra Zeneca, Chiesi Pharma, Menarini Pharma, TEVA Ratiopharm, MSD, Air Liquide Healthcare, Pfizer Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mundipharma, during the conduct of the LEAD study. She has also been member of advisory board and speaker in respiratory oncology and respiratory obstructive diseases for Roche, MSD, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, TEVA, Chiesi, Menarini, and GSK. J.E. reports personal fees and nonfinancial support from Roche and Lilly; personal fees from Astra Zeneca, Takeda, Boehringer Ingelheim, and MSD, outside the submitted work. B.B., J.B., M-K.B., P.C., P.E., P.F., M.H., K.K., M.K., B.L., A.M-S., W.P., F.R., P.S., and A.S. have nothing to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Matching of pre- and postoperative staging in 150 patients receiving surgery. Patients highlighted in bold frame should not have been operated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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