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Aakash Desai: Clinical Outcomes of Perioperative Immunotherapy in Resectable NSCLC

Aakash Desai/LinkedIn

Jul 1, 2025, 17:49

Aakash Desai: Clinical Outcomes of Perioperative Immunotherapy in Resectable NSCLC

Aakash Desai, Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Phase 1 and Precision Oncology Program at the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper he co-authored with colleagues published in JAMA Network Open:

“Proud to share our recent work in JAMA analyzing real-world patterns and outcomes of perioperative immunotherapy in resectable stage II-IIIA NSCLC, published using the Flatiron Health database.

This is one of the largest US real-world studies on neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy, including 1334 patients treated after FDA approvals.

Key findings:

18-month Distant Metastasis–Free Survival (DMFS):

Neoadjuvant cohort: 80.2%

Adjuvant cohort: 83.0%

PD-L1 testing rates:

Adjuvant: 72.2%

Neoadjuvant: 52.6%

Indicates testing gaps in the preoperative setting

Most common metastatic sites:

Brain,

Bone,

Pleura

Patterns were consistent across both cohorts

Use of perioperative IO is increasing, but still underutilized:

Neoadjuvant: from 8.4% (2022) – 13.8% (2023)

Adjuvant: from 19.7% – 22.6%

Why this matters:
Despite compelling survival outcomes, <30% of eligible patients are receiving these treatments.

This study underscores the urgent need to:

Expand biomarker testing pre-surgery

Improve multidisciplinary coordination

Address systemic barriers to adoption

Also, read this great commentary by Melina Marmarelis and team.”

Title: Clinical Outcomes of Perioperative Immunotherapy in Resectable Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Authors: Aakash Desai, Karen Schwed, Laurynas Kalesinskas, Qianyu Yuan, Jonathan Bryan, Catherine Keane, Erin Fidyk, Emily Castellanos, Aaron B. Cohen, Katherine Harrison, George Ho, Anca Marinescu, Ticiana A. Leal

You can read the Full Article in JAMA Network Open.

Aakash Desai: Clinical Outcomes of Perioperative Immunotherapy in Resectable NSCLC

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