The following databases were searched for evidence: MEDLINE (1966 to February 2005), EMBASE (1980 to 2005, week 13), CANCERLIT (1975 to October 2002), and the Cochrane Library (2005, issue 1). Search terms included the following subject headings: carcinoma, nonsmall cell lung, lung non small cell cancer, lung carcinogenesis, lung adenocarcinoma, lung alveolus cell carcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, antineoplastic agent(s), drug therapy, chemotherapy adjuvant, cancer chemotherapy, surgery, cancer surgery, pleurectomy, and lung surgery; text words: non small cell lung, chemotherapy, drug therapy, adjuvant, surgery, surgical, resect, and postop; and publication types and study designs (practice guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, phase III clinical trials, and major clinical studies). Abstract reports from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the European Cancer Conference, and the European Society for Medical Oncology (2000 to 2004) and reference lists from relevant articles and review articles were hand searched.
Eligibility Criteria
Fully published reports or published abstracts of meta-analyses or randomized controlled trials comparing postoperative chemotherapy with the same treatment without chemotherapy in patients with completely resected nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were included in this review. Data from slide presentations associated with abstract reports were included if the presentations were publicly available on meeting websites. Trials involving alkylating chemotherapy agents alone or in combination with non-platinum agents were excluded, because those agents have been shown to be detrimental to patient survival in an adjuvant setting. In addition, trials that involved immunochemotherapy, trials that did not report overall or disease-free survival, or trials that were published in a language other than English or French were not considered.