Overall Survival of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With Spinal Metastasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective The long-term survival data of lung cancer patients with spinal metastases are crucial for informed treatment decision-making. However, most studies in this field involve small sample sizes. Moreover, survival benchmarking and an analysis of changes in survival over time are required, but data are unavailable. To meet this need, we performed a meta-analysis of survival data from small studies to obtain a survival function based on large-scale data. Methods We performed a single-arm systematic review of survival function following a published protocol. Data of patients who received surgical, nonsurgical, and mixed modes of treatment were meta-analyzed separately. Survival data were extracted from published figures with a digitizer program and then processed in R. Median survival time was used as an effect size for moderator analysis to explain the heterogeneity. Results Sixty-two studies with 5,242 participants were included for pooling. The survival functions showed a median survival of 6.72 months for surgery (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.9–7.01; 2,367 participants; 36 studies), 5.99 months for nonsurgery (95% CI, 5.33–6.47; 891 participants; 12 studies), and 5.96 months for mixed (95% CI, 5.67–6.43; 1,984 participants; 18 studies). Patients enrolled since 2010 showed the highest survival rates. Conclusion This study provides the first large-scale data for lung cancer with spinal metastasis that allows survival benchmarking. Data from patients enrolled since 2010 had the best survival and thus may more accurately reflect current survival. Researchers should focus on this subset in future benchmarking and remain optimistic in the management of these patients.