Prospective randomized trials have demonstrated noninferior survival between sublobar resection and lobectomy in healthy non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with tumors ≤2cm. However, some patient attributes are not well represented in randomized trials and uncertainty remains in the widespread applicability of randomized trial nodal dissection protocols. Patients with ≤2cm, node-negative NSCLC (cT1N0) in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons prospective database were linked to Medicare survival data using a probabilistic matching algorithm. Survival was assessed by propensity score weighted Kaplan Meier analysis. Overall, 20,031 patients were identified including 11,976 lobectomy, 2,586 segmentectomy, and 5,469 wedge resection patients. Fewer lymph nodes were sampled in sublobar patients (mean 5.5 vs 12.8) and pathologic upstaging was less common (7.1% vs 14.2%). Overall survival following sublobar and lobar resection was similar within groups under-studied in recent trials including age ≥75 years (p=0.07), FEV1=10-59% (p=0.14), and Zubrod performance status 2-3 (p=0.23). When sublobar resection was performed with inadequate nodal evaluation (<2 nodes removed), the survival was inferior to lobectomy (p<0.001). Among patients with nodal upstaging, lobectomy was not associated with improved survival over sublobar resection (p=0.42). The clinical trial finding that sublobar resections achieve similar survival to lobectomy in early-stage lung cancer appears to apply to older, less healthy patients in a real-world setting, provided adequate lymph node resection is performed. Performing a lobectomy in the setting of nodal upstaging, does not obviously improve survival. Further study is warranted to clarify the role of sublobar resection in the general population.
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