Objectives: Pulmonary lobectomy is the standard surgical procedure for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while sublobar resection is an important surgical alternative for high-risk patients with comorbidities. We evaluated the treatment outcome and prognostic factors of sublobar resection in high-risk patients with NSCLC.
Methods: Eighty three high-risk patients who underwent compromised sublobar resection for clinical-N0 NSCLC with a solid appearance were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 47 wedge resections and 36 segmentectomies performed.
Results: Poor pulmonary function and synchronous or metachronous multiple lung cancer were found in 56.7% and 20.5% of patients respectively, all requiring sublobar resection. There were 21 instances of tumor recurrence and 24 deaths during a mean follow-up of 1,500 days. There was no local recurrence in the segmentectomy group. The 3-year recurrence free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were 72.6% and 73.8% respectively. A multivariate analysis indicated that resection type and lymphatic invasion were independent prognostic factors for RFS. In the wedge resection group, a ratio of surgical margin to clinical tumor size greater than 1 (MT ratio≥1) was an independent prognostic factor for RFS( 87.1%,p=0.001).
Conclusion: Segmentectomy leads to a favorable prognosis. MT ratio was independently associated with a longer RFS in the wedge resection group.