title: Does the extent of lymph nodes dissection affect the prognosis of resected stage IA non-small cell lung cancer?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Curative surgery remains the priority for treatment of stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study is to investigate if the extent of lymph node (LN) dissections affect the prognosis of resected stage IA NSCLC.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 110 stage IA NSCLC patients who underwent curative resections were reviewed. The patients were classified according to the number of lymph nodes dissected (N) and levels sampled (NL, N2). The tumor residuals of 2,251 LNs were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The Flow Cytometry (FACS) of the peripheral blood (PB) and LNs was used to evaluate patients' immunity. The relationship between the studied factors and the correlation with disease-free survival (DFS) was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Disease free survival was improved as the extent of dissections increased in terms of N, NL and N2 (p = 0.005, <0.001, <0.001). Multivariate tests suggested N, N2 and NL (p = 0.001, 0.001, <0.001) were independent risk factors. However, the detection of tumor residuals also increased with the extent of dissection (p = 0.023, <0.001) while the presence of micrometastasis (MM) correlated with poor DFS (p = 0.028). Increased N represented weakened innate immunity (p = 0.048). Multivariate tests did not indicate a correlation between immunity and patients' DFS (p = 0.074).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The more extensive lymph node dissections achieved better disease control for stage IA NSCLC. Greater retrieval of LNs did not imply enhanced innate immunity; nor did their immunity level affect survival.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention of Tianjin, Cancer Institute and Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Huan Hu Xi Road, He Xi District, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies