The efficacy of neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy in resectable stage II–IV non-small cell lung cancer: a preliminary study

Background: Lung cancer is currently the world’s leading malignancy in terms of morbidity and mortality. Neoadjuvant therapy is widely used in clinic to improve R0 resection rates and long-term survival after surgery, and patients with locally resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may benefit from neoadjuvant therapy. Methods: Data from 78 patients with stage II to IV NSCLC who had received neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy from January 2019 to May 2022 were collected. The patients were categorized into groups based on their eligibility for posttreatment surgery, the level of pathological remission, and receipt of adjuvant therapy. The progression-free survival (PFS) and survival rates of patients in each group were compared. Efforts were made to identify the factors that influence patients’ prognoses. Results: The incidence of adverse events in patients who received neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy was 19%. The proportion of patients receiving neoadjuvant immunotherapy and chemotherapy undergoing surgery was 83.33%, and the rate of R0 resection was 64.10%. The pathological complete response (pCR) and major pathological response (MPR) rates were 26.25% and 21.87%, respectively. Patients who received adjuvant therapy were less likely to experience recurrent metastases than were those who did not receive adjuvant therapy (χ2=7.183; P=0.007<0.05). Conclusions: Neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy has a low incidence of adverse events in resectable stage II–IV NSCLC, does not significantly increase the difficulty of surgery, and provides greater benefit in terms of PFS for patients who receive operation and adjuvant therapy.