Background: The sixth edition of TNM system is hard to illuminate the survival of different tumor load precisely. This retrospective study attempted to evaluate the prognostic clinicopathologic features of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Especially we subclassified tumor sizes to validate the new T classification of international union against cancer (UICC).
Methods: We reviewed the clinical data of 327 stage I NSCLC with complete resection. Survival was analysed by Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test. The multivariate analysis was performed with Cox's proportion risk model.
Results: The 5-year survival rate of poorly differentiated histologic grade and moderate-well differentiated histologic grade were 60.49% and 73.98% respectively (P=0.02574); The 5-year survival rate of preoperative anemia or not were 64.44% and 73.00% (P=0.0182); Tumor size was divided into <=2 cm, 2.1 cm-3 cm, 3.1 cm-5 cm and 5.1 cm-7 cm with 5-year survival rate of 86.30%, 72.73%, 62.50% and 58.33% respectively (P<0.0001).
Conclusions: Histologic grade, preoperative anemia and tumor size are the independent prognostic factors in complete resection of stage I NSCLC. The patients with moderate-well differentiated histologic grade, non-preoperative anemia and smaller tumor size have longer survival time. Changes in tumor size classification are to subclassify into<=2 cm, 2.1 cm-3 cm, and 3.1 cm-5 cm, which is consistent with new T-staging system protocol of UICC.