Surgical treatment of clinical N1 non-small cell lung cancer: ongoing controversy over diagnosis and prognosis.
OBJECTIVE
The preoperative assessment of nodal status in lung cancer is complicated and problematic for physicians and surgeons. Although many patients with clinical N1 (cN1) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are candidates for surgical treatment, these patients represent a heterogeneous subgroup with unpredictable survival. We conducted this study to evaluate the surgical results of cN1 disease and to attempt to clarify the delicate issues surrounding its diagnosis and prognosis.


METHODS
The subjects of this study were 187 consecutive patients with cN1 adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, who underwent complete resection without induction therapy.


RESULTS
Only 25% of the adenocarcinomas and 54% of the squamous cell carcinomas were correctly diagnosed as N1 disease preoperatively. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that adenocarcinoma (P = 0.0141) was a significant predictor of pN2. Multivariate analyses revealed that nodal metastasis (P < 0.0001), large tumor size (P = 0.0079), and high serum carcinoembryonic antigen value (P = 0.0096) were significantly poor prognostic factors in cN1 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
It is difficult to diagnose nodal status in patients with cN1 disease, which requires various surgical procedures, including plasty, possibly with adjuvant therapy in a defined high-risk subgroup.
Miyoshi
Kei
K
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hyogo Cancer Center for Adults, Akashi, Japan.
Mimura
Takeshi
T
Iwanaga
Koichiro
K
Adachi
Shuji
S
Tsubota
Noriaki
N
Okada
Morihito
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen