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. 2022 May-Jun;36(3):1297-1301.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.12830.

Prognostic Factors of Survival After Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer-The Impact of Smoking Pack Years

Affiliations

Prognostic Factors of Survival After Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer-The Impact of Smoking Pack Years

Elisa M Werner et al. In Vivo. 2022 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background/aim: The prognostic role of smoking pack years after thoracic irradiation for lung cancer needs further clarification, since previous studies showed conflicting results. Therefore, this study investigated potential prognostic factors for survival including pack years in 170 lung cancer patients receiving local radiotherapy.

Patients and methods: Twelve factors were retrospectively evaluated for survival including age, sex, tumor site, histology, primary tumor stage, nodal stage, distant metastasis, radiation dose, upfront surgery or systemic treatment, pulmonary function, and number of pack years.

Results: On univariate analyses, absence of distant metastasis (p=0.049), radiation dose >56 Gy (p=0.019), and ≤40 pack years (p=0.005) were significantly associated with better survival. In the multivariate analysis, number of pack years (hazard ratio 2.18, 95% confidence interval 1.25-3.82, p=0.006) maintained significance; distant metastasis (p=0.34) and radiation dose (p=0.16) were not significant.

Conclusion: Number of pack years was an independent predictor of survival after thoracic irradiation for lung cancer.

Keywords: Lung cancer; prognostic factors; smoking pack years; survival; thoracic irradiation.

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Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all Authors, the corresponding Author states that there are no conflicts of interest related to this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Kaplan-Meier curves for survival of patients with ≤40 smoking pack years and those patients with >40 pack years. The p-value was calculated using the log-rank test.

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