Prognostic Factors of Operated Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers: A Tertiary Center Long-Term Outcomes

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate prognostic factors influencing survival in patients who underwent surgical resection of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in our center. Methods: A total of 472 patients with stage I NSCLC who were operated between January 2007 and November 2018 were retrospectively analyzed in the study. Patient data was collected using hospital database. The remaining patients were divided into 2 groups: patients younger than 65 years of age (group A) and those aged 65 and over (group B). Results: The patient group comprised 80 women (16.9%) and 392 men (83.1%); 152 patients were aged 65 years or over (32.2%) and 320 patients were under 65 years of age (81.5%). The mean follow-up time was 51 months. The 5-year survival rate was 67.2% overall. Patients with stage IA1, IA2, IA3, and IB tumors had 5-year survival of 78.1%, 72.5%, 77.3%, and 56.7%, respectively (p=0.009). In multivariate analysis, advanced age (465 years), large cell carcinoma, left-sided surgery, and higher tumor stage were the most important prognostic factors associated with poorer survival. Conclusion: Advanced age was determined to be an independent poor prognostic factor, and sub-group analyses showed that survival outcome was better with tumors smaller than 1 cm. Based on the results of our study, we believe that the classification of stage I group should be revised in the new edition of lung cancer staging.