Gemcitabine and Cisplatin Before or After Surgery in Treating Patients With Stage I or Stage II Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Compare the time to recurrence in patients with stage IB or II non-small cell lung cancer treated with neoadjuvant versus adjuvant gemcitabine hydrochloride and cisplatin. Secondary * Compare overall survival of patients treated with these regimens. * Compare the toxicity of these regimens in these patients. * Compare quality of life of these patients. * Compare the complete resection rate with and without neoadjuvant gemcitabine hydrochloride and cisplatin. OUTLINE: This is a randomized study. Patients are stratified by disease stage (IB vs II) and histology (squamous cell carcinoma vs nonsquamous cell carcinoma). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. * Arm I (neoadjuvant chemotherapy): Patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes and cisplatin IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 15. Treatment repeats every 4 weeks for up to 4 courses in the absence of disease recurrence or unacceptable toxicity. Within 8 weeks after initiating course 4 of chemotherapy, patients undergo complete surgical resection. * Arm II (adjuvant chemotherapy): Patients undergo complete surgical resection. Beginning within 8 weeks after complete surgical resection, patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride IV and cisplatin IV as in arm I. Quality of life is assessed at baseline and periodically for up to 5 years. After completion of study therapy, patients are followed periodically for at least 5 years or until disease recurrence. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 170 patients will be accrued for this study.