The Interval of Computed Tomography Follow-Ups after Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Surgery Did Not Show Any Relationship with Survival

Abstract

Purpose: There is limited evidence concerning the computed tomography (CT) follow-up interval to detect recurrence and second primary cancers after surgery for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of CT interval on survival after surgery.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the prognosis of 103 patients who underwent periodic CT after complete resection for pathological stage II–III NSCLC at a single institute between 2015 and 2020. The patients were stratified based on the follow-up CT intervals into the half-year group (Group H) and annual group (Group A). Additionally, the underlying differences in clinical backgrounds between the 2 groups were adjusted by propensity score matching.

Results: A total of 103 patients (Group H, 76 patients; Group A, 27 patients) were included in this study. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates in the unmatched cohort were 83.5% and 95.2% in groups H and A, respectively ( P = 0.17). Among the matched cohort, 42 and 21 patients were in groups H and A. The 5-year OS rates of the matched cohort were 89.8% and 94.4% in groups H and A ( P = 0.45), with no significant difference.

Conclusions: There was no association between CT intervals and postoperative survival.