The effect of nodal downstage on long-term outcome for patients of non-small-cell lung cancer with IIIA-N2 stage

Abstract

low-up of the patients was 24.42 months. The numbers of patients with pN0, pN1, and pN2 were 40 (34.5%), 16 (13.8%), and 60 (51.7%), respectively. The 3-year local recurrence rates of patients with pN0, pN1, and pN2 were 27.5%, 56.2%, and 51.7%, respectively. In the group treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, the 3-year local-recurrence rates of patients with pN0, pN1, and pN2 were 26.9%, 58.3%, and 46.2%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that the significant predictor of LRFS was pN0 during the surgery. The LRFS of patients with pN0 was greater than that of the patients with pN1 (P=0.048). The LRFS of patients with pN1 was not significantly associated with that of patients with pN2 (P=0.314). The 5-year OS rate of the groups was 46.6%. The multivariate analysis also demonstrated that pT1, pN0-1, and induction chemotherapy effects were associated with OS. The patients with pN2 yielded a poorer OS than those with pN0 and pN1 (P<0.05). The patients with pN0 did not significantly differ from those with pN1 in terms of OS (P=0.412). Conclusion: Although the occurrence of pathologic downstaging is a well-known positive prognostic indicator after stage Ⅲ-N2 NSCLC is subjected to chemotherapy, the local-recurrence rate of nodal-downstaged patients remains high, even when they receive adjuvant che