The Effect of Blood Vessel Invasion on Prognosis of Operated Stage I Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective: A retrospective study was conducted to identify the effect of blood vessel invasion on prognosis in surgically treated stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients. Methods: A total of 71 consecutive patients who had undergone complete resection for stage I primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 1998 and 2007 were evaluated. All pathological specimens were examined for evidence of blood vessel invasion. The follow-up period was 5–118 months. Survival data were analyzed for all patients using the Kaplan-Meier test. Results: There were 63 men and 8 women (mean age 59.2, age range 35–86). The most common tumor types were adenocarcinoma (35 patients, 49 %) and squamous cell carcinoma (26 patients, 37 %). Twenty-five patients (35 %) had stage IA disease, and 46 had (65 %) stage IB disease. In 13 cases (18 %) blood vessel invasion was demonstrated, whereas in the remaining 58 cases there was no evidence of vascular invasion. Minimum and maximum follow-up periods were 5 and 118 months respectively, with a mean of 41.76 ± 27 months (median 33.5 months). Overall disease-free survival was 79.6 ± 6.4 months: 38.3 ± 12.0 months for the group with blood vessel invasion and 87.5 ± 6.7 months for the remaining group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p < 0.003). Overall survival rate was 86.7 ± 6.7 months: 44.5 ± 11.3 months for blood vessel invasion group and 98.2 ± 6.2 months for the remaining group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Vascular invasion can be an important factor for predicting unfavorable prognosis in stage I NSCLC patients.

Key words

non‐small cell lung cancer - early stage - blood vessel invasion - prognosis

References

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