In brief
- The IntellyLUNG study used artificial intelligence to extract data from the electronic health records of 951 adults diagnosed with stage I–III NSCLC at four Spanish hospitals between 2014 and 2018.
- Stage III disease accounted for 48.6% of the cohort, stage I for 34.7% and stage II for 16.7%; the median age was 66 years and 31.9% of patients were women.
- Surgery was performed in 78.5% of stage I, 74.8% of stage II and 35.5% of stage III patients.
- Among surgical patients, 62.5% received adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, 20.8% neoadjuvant therapy and 15.7% both; chemoradiotherapy was the most common treatment in non-surgical patients (50.4%).
Study at a glance
- Design: Retrospective observational study, data extracted from electronic health records by artificial intelligence
- Setting: Four hospitals in Spain
- Period: Diagnosis 2014 to 2018, follow-up until 2021
- Population: 951 adults with stage I–III NSCLC; median age 66 years; 31.9% female
- Stage at diagnosis: I 34.7%, II 16.7%, III 48.6%
- Surgery: Stage I 78.5%, stage II 74.8%, stage III 35.5%
- Non-surgical patients: Chemoradiotherapy in 50.4%
- Not reported: In the abstract, survival outcomes, adverse events, or how accurately the artificial intelligence extracted the records
Nearly half of the cohort was diagnosed at stage III
Across the 951 adults, 48.6% had stage III disease, against 34.7% with stage I and 16.7% with stage II, so locally advanced cases outnumbered either early stage. The median age was 66 years, and fewer than a third of patients (31.9%) were women.
The patients were diagnosed between 2014 and 2018 and followed until 2021. The study aimed to describe care before immunotherapy and targeted therapies were incorporated into the treatment of early and locally advanced disease.
Surgery in 78.5% of stage I patients and 35.5% of stage III patients
The surgery rate stayed high through stage II, at 74.8%, and fell sharply only at stage III, with close to two thirds of those patients treated without an operation.
Multimodal treatment was common around surgery. Of the patients who had surgery, 62.5% received adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, 20.8% received neoadjuvant therapy and 15.7% received both. In patients who did not have surgery, chemoradiotherapy was the most frequent treatment, given to 50.4%.
Apart from hospital stays, outpatient visits were the most used resource
The study also counted healthcare resource use. Apart from hospitalization, outpatient visits were the resource patients used most often; the abstract gives this as a ranking, with no visit counts or costs attached.
“These findings provide a historical benchmark of NSCLC care before introduction of immunotherapy and targeted therapies in these settings, highlighting treatment variability and the need for earlier diagnosis, structured treatment pathways, and multidisciplinary management.”Corral Jaime et al., Life (2026)
A four-hospital, retrospective benchmark read by software
The cohort comes from four Spanish hospitals, so the treatment rates describe practice at those centres and may differ from national figures. The design is retrospective, and the data were extracted from routine health records using artificial intelligence, not collected prospectively for research.
The authors present the cohort as a reference point for stage I–III disease before these therapies were introduced. Cohorts treated after their introduction can be set against the rates of surgery, adjuvant treatment and chemoradiotherapy reported here.
Sources
- Life. Real-World Insights into Stage I–III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in Spain in the Pre-Immunotherapy Era Using AI Techniques: The IntellyLUNG Study (2026-07-05). doi.org
Featuring Lung Summit faculty
This study was co-authored by Lung Summit faculty Antonio Calles.
This article was produced independently by the Lung Summit editorial team, without industry funding or input.
