Combination Chemotherapy Compared With No Treatment Following Surgery in Treating Patients With Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known if combination chemotherapy given after surgery is more effective than surgery alone for non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy following surgery with that of surgery alone in treating patients who have stage I, stage II, or stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer.