title: Lack of Association Between Dexamethasone and Long-Term Survival After Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between the use of intraoperative dexamethasone with an increase in recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a propensity score-matched (PSM) retrospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single academic center.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study comprised patients with stage I through IIIa NSCLC. Patients were excluded if they were younger than 18 years, had missing data, and died within 30 days after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Primary outcomes of the study were RFS and OS. The data were PSM. RFS and OS were evaluated using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models after PSM to assess the association between intraoperative dexamethasone use and the primary outcomes. A p value of<0.05 was considered statistically significant. After PSM, 436 patients were included in each treatment group. Adjusting for significant covariates, the multivariate analysis demonstrated no association between the use of dexamethasone and RFS (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.98 [0.78-1.24]; p = 0.915). The multivariate analysis also demonstrated no association between the administration of dexamethasone and OS (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.08 [0.81-1.44]; p = 0.58).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that intraoperative dexamethasone administration to NSCLC patients was not associated with a significant impact on RFS and OS. The results were similar to a previous study on ovarian cancer patients. A randomized controlled study should be conducted to confirm the results of this study.
authors: Departments of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine; Anesthesiology and Surgical Oncology Research Group, Houston, TX. Electronic address: jcata@mdanderson.org.
authors: Juan P
authors: JP
authors: Cata
authors: Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH.
authors: Justin
authors: J
authors: Jones
authors: Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
authors: Boris
authors: B
authors: Sepesi
authors: Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
authors: Reza J
authors: RJ
authors: Mehran
authors: Departments of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Rodriguez-Restrepo
authors: Departments of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Lasala
authors: Biostatistics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Feng
authors: Departments of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.
authors: Vijaya
authors: V
authors: Gottumukkala
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057216:Propensity Score; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D003907:Dexamethasone
keywords: dexamethasone; long-term survival; non-small cell lung cancer surgery