Stage Migration, Selection Bias, and Survival Associated With the Adoption of Positron Emission Tomography Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer, 1998-2003

Abstract

Overall survival among Medicare beneficiaries with NSCLC was unchanged between 1998 and 2003, despite widespread adoption of PET. The association between PET use and increased survival likely reflects an artifact of selection bias and consequent stage migration.