OBJECTIVES: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a safe and effective alternative to open lobectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is part of the treatment recommended for patients with performance status (PS) 0-1 following resection of NSCLC of stages T1-3 N1-2 M0 and T2-3 N0 M0. If VATS reduces morbidity, does it help delivery of postoperative chemotherapy? We studied our data to compare the delivery and toxicity of chemotherapy

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... patients following VATS or open lung resections. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of all patients who had resection of primary NSCLC in a single surgical centre between October 2008 and August 2013. Surgical and chemotherapy databases were reviewed to extract data on patient characteristics, operative details, pathological stage, chemotherapy delivery and toxicity. RESULTS : Three hundred and twenty-three resections were undertaken for NSCLC; 142 (44%) underwent VATS resection and 181 (56%) open thoracotomy; 16 (11.3%) and 28 (15.5%) of each group received adjuvant chemotherapy, respectively. Patient demographics and tumour stage were as follows: median age (range) was 65.5 (44-77) vs 67.5 (49-76); male: 43.8 vs 50% (P = 1.0); Stage I/II 75 vs 76.9%; Stage III 12.5 vs 30.8%; pre-chemotherapy PS 0 75 vs 78.2% for VATS and thoracotomy groups, respectively. All patients received platinum/vinorelbine therapy. Chemotherapy was initiated significantly earlier in the VATS group (mean 55.7 ± 3.1 vs 68.2 ± 4.3 days, P = 0.046); 68.8% of patients in the VATS group completed four cycles of chemotherapy compared with 60.1% in the open group (P = 0.75). There was a nonsignificant trend towards reduction in Grade 3/4 haematological toxicity in the VATS group compared with the open group (12.5 vs 39.3%, P = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Adjuvant chemotherapy was started significantly earlier in patients following VATS lung resections for NSCLC compared with thoracotomy. There was also a trend towards improved tolerance with more complete courses and reduced haematological toxicity.