Comparison between sublobar resection and 125Iodine brachytherapy after sublobar resection in high-risk patients with Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer.

Abstract

Sublobar resection (SR) can be performed in high-risk non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients but is associated with an increased local recurrence. This abstract reviews our intraoperative (125)Iodine brachytherapy experience after SR in high-risk Stage I NSCLC patients and compares these results with our previous series of SR alone in similar patients. One hundred two Stage I NSCLC patients who underwent SR alone were compared with 101 Stage I patients who underwent SR and intraoperative (125)Iodine brachytherapy placed over the SR staple line. Local recurrence after SR and (125)Iodine brachytherapy (2%) in high-risk Stage I NSCLC patients was significantly less than after SR alone (18.6%). This safe, pulmonary function-preserving and practical intraoperative brachytherapy method should be considered when SR is used as a "compromise" therapy in these patients.