Evaluation of Prognostic Factors for Survival in Stage I Non-small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: Surgical resection is currently considered the most appropriate treatment option in early-stage lung cancer. However, surgical treatment of early-stage patients still results in different survival times. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of age, sex, smoking history, tumor size, localization, histopathologic type, and resection type on survival after surgically resected pathologic stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods:Sixty consecutive patients who underwent surgical treatment between July 2006 and January 2011 for pathologic stage 1 primary lung cancer were included in this study.Results: Fifty-five (91.7%) of the patients were males, and they were 46-88 (median, 64.4±8.5) years old. Age, sex, smoking history, histopathologic type, anatomical localization, stage, resection type, and postoperative complications did not affect survival rates. Patients with incomplete resection or metastases during the follow-up period had statistically significant decreased survival rates.Conclusions: Staging according to anatomical markers in stage 1 NSCLC patients is not prognostically decisive. Therefore, we believe that staging in NSCLC may be accomplished according to not only anatomic indicatives but also molecular markers.