Photo Credit: Nemes Laszlo

Surgical resection is the primary treatment for early-stage NSCLC, with lobectomy being the standard approach. A systematic review and meta-analysis from Benjamin Haithcock, MD, and colleagues that was published in Lung Cancer evaluated lobectomy versus sublobar resection in patients with NSCLC. The review included 18 studies with 6,075 patients. In general, lobectomy resulted in better overall survival (OS) compared with sublobar resection (HR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.68-0.89]; P<0.001). However, when sublobar resection was divided into either segmentectomy or wedge resection, segmentectomy showed similar OS to lobectomy (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.75-1.14); lobar resection was associated with better OS than wedge resection (HR, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.41-0.67]; P<0.001). Disease-free survival did not vary significantly between lobectomy and sublobar resection. The results suggest that segmentectomy could be a viable alternative to lobectomy for patients with stage IA NSCLC, while wedge resection is less favorable, according to Dr. Haithcock and colleagues.