ORIGINAL ARTICLE – THORACIC ONCOLOGY Induction Chemoradiotherapy Followed by Surgical Resection for Clinical T3 or T4 Locally Advanced Non–Small Cell

Purpose. To examine the usefulness of trimodality ther-apy in patients with clinical T3 or T4 (cT3–4) locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). Methods. Between 1997 and 2009, a total of 76 LA-NSC LC patients with cT3–4 underwent surgery. Among them, 36 patients underwent induction chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin plus concurrent radiation followed by surgery (IC group). The other 40 patients initially underwent surgery (IS group). The outcomes of the IC and IS groups were then investigated. To minimize possible biases caused by confounding treatment indications, we performed a retrospective cohort analysis by applying a propensity score (PS). Patients were divided into three groups according to PS tertiles, and comparisons betwee