The role of radiotherapy in pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma: propensity score matching analysis

Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the survival advantage of radiotherapy (RT) in patients with pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC). Patients with pulmonary LCNEC were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) dataset between January 2004 and December 2013. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis with 1:1 was used to ensure well-balanced characteristics of all comparison groups. A total of 1480 eligible cases were identified, with a median follow-up time of 11 months (0–131 months). After PSM, 980 patients were classified in no radiotherapy (No RT) and radiotherapy (RT) groups (n = 490 each). Patients in the RT group harbored significantly higher 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates compared to those in the No RT group (both P