Outcomes of local thoracic surgery in patients with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer: A SEER-based analysis.

Abstract Background The outcomes of thoracic surgery for patients with stage IV non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are controversial and uncertain. Patients and methods The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results was queried for patients with stage IV NSCLC, including those treated with surgery-participated therapy modalities. Overall survival (OS) was evaluated using a variety of statistical analyses. Results The analysis was carried out for 90,982 patients from 1975 to 2016 who had been diagnosed as stage IV NSCLC. Propensity score-matched (PSM) analyses that were well-balanced with all the important confounding covariates revealed improved OS (median survival time [MST]) with patients receiving surgery versus non-surgery (MST: 15 versus 8 months, P  Conclusions The patients with T1-4, N0-3, Msite0-1 and adeno- or squamous carcinoma of stage IV NSCLC had a longer OS with local thoracic surgery in combination with chemotherapy or chemoradiation.