Survival among patients with lung cancer managed at a tertiary care center in North India

Though there has been advancement in the management of lung cancer, it is not well utilized due to its limited availability and high cost. This is a prospective observational study done at a tertiary care center from January 2014 to December 2022, involving patients with primary lung cancer. After tumor-node-metastasis staging and molecular testing, the patients received chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy in various combinations as per the prevailing National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines. 92 patients were enrolled in the study, with the mean age being 58.94±10.33 and 72 (78.26%) being males. 69 (75%) patients were either current or former smokers. 78 (84.78%) patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score of 0-2 while the remaining had an ECOG of 3-4. 80 (86.95%) patients had non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 44 (47.83%) adenocarcinoma, 25 (27.17%) squamous cell carcinoma, and 11 (11.95%) NSCLC: not otherwise specified, while 12 (13.04%) patients had small cell lung cancer. One (1.08%) patient each presented in stage I and stage II, 31 (33.69%) patients presented in stage III, and 59 (64.13%) patients presented in stage IV. 44 patients with adenocarcinoma were subjected to mutational analysis, and an epidermal growth factor receptor mutation was found in 13 (29.5%) patients. None of the patients had ALK mutation, ROS-1 rearrangement, or BRAF mutation. PD-L1 expression was evaluated in 9 patients with NSCLC, and it was found in 6 (66.66%) patients. The overall mean survival was 12.7 months. The mean survival for patients with stages I, II, III, and IV was 70, 96, 8.1, and 12.7 months, respectively. Survival in stage IV was better than in stage III, as the eligible patients received targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy have improved survival. Molecular analysis should be done whenever indicated, and eligible patients must be administered targeted therapy and immunotherapy.