Photo Credit: Photovs

For patients with early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lung resections, including lobectomy and segmentectomy, are associated with improved long-term survival compared with wedge resection. According to a study presented at the annual meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Christopher Seder, MD, and colleagues analyzed data from 32,340 patients undergoing lung resection surgery for stage 1A NSCLC from 346 US institutions. In this group, 61.2%, 13.2%, and 25.6% underwent lobectomy, segmentectomy, and wedge resection, respectively. Lobectomy was associated with improved survival compared with sublobar resection (HR for overall survival [OS] and lung-cancer specific survival [LCSS], 0.87 and 0.91, respectively), specifically compared with wedge resection (HRs, 0.84 and 0.88 for OS and LCSS, respectively), but not segmentectomy. Compared with wedge resection, segmentectomy was associated with improved survival (HRs, 0.88 and 0.91 for OS and LCSS, respectively). In a sensitivity analysis excluding pathologic-upstaged cases, similarly improved survival was seen for lobectomy versus sublobar and wedge resection; lobectomy survival was improved versus segmentectomy (HRs, 0.88 and 0.89 for OS and LCSS, respectively), and survival was similar for segmentectomy and wedge resection.