What is the role of wedge resection for T1a lung cancer?

Wedge resection, segmentectomy, and lobectomy: oncologic outcomes based on extent of surgical resection for ≤2 cm stage IA non-small cell lung cancer

Background

Long-standing controversy has existed over whether sublobar resection is an adequate oncological procedure for clinical stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) ≤2 cm, despite the recent randomized trial reports of Japanese Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) 0802 and Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 140503 demonstrating non-inferior outcomes with sublobar resection compared to lobectomy. As practice patterns shift, we sought to compare oncologic outcomes in patients with these early-stage tumors after wedge resection, segmentectomy, or lobectomy in a contemporary, real-world, cohort.

Methods

A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database from a single institution was conducted from 2011 to 2020 to identify all patients with clinically staged IA1 or IA2 NSCLC (tumors ≤2 cm with no nodal involvement). The primary outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), with secondary outcomes of lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS), recurrence patterns, and perioperative morbidity and mortality.

Results

A total of 480 patients were identified; 93 (19.4%) patients underwent wedge resection, 90 (18.7%) received segmentectomy, and 297 (61.9%) underwent lobectomy. Patients who underwent wedge resection had worse Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (23.7% ECOG 1 or 2 vs. 5.6% among segmentectomy and 5.4% among lobectomy, P<0.05). Both wedge resection and segmentectomy patients had lower preoperative mean percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (%FEV1) compared to the lobectomy group (81.8% and 82.6% vs. 89.6%, P=0.002), a higher proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD), and a higher Charlson Comorbidity Index. There were no statistically significant differences in 5-year OS, DFS, or LCSS between groups: 90%, 61%, 78% for wedge resections compared with 85%, 75%, 86% for segmentectomy, and 87%, 77%, 87% for lobectomy, respectively. Recurrence was observed in 17 patients who underwent wedge resection (18.3%, 8 local, 9 distant), 12 patients who received segmentectomy (13.4%, 6 local, 6 distant), and 38 patients who underwent lobectomy (12.8%, 11 local, 27 distant), which was not significantly different (P=0.36).

Conclusions

Patients with inferior performance status or lower baseline pulmonary function are more likely to receive wedge resection for clinical stage IA NSCLC ≤2 cm in size. For these small tumors, lobectomy, segmentectomy, and wedge resection provide comparable oncologic outcomes.

The Scan, the Needle, or the Knife? National Trends in Diagnosing Stage I Lung Cancer

OBJECTIVE

Indeterminate lung nodules have been increasingly discovered since the expansion of lung cancer screening programs. The diagnostic approach for suspicious nodules varies based on institutional resources and preferences. The aim of this study is to analyze factors associated with diagnostic modalities used for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS

The National Cancer Database was queried for all patients with stage I NSCLC from 2004 to 2015. Four diagnostic modalities were identified, including clinical radiography alone (CRA), bronchial cytology (BC), procedural biopsy (PB), and surgical biopsy (SB). A multivariable multinomial logistic regression was used to assess associations of patient demographics, cancer characteristics, and facility characteristics with these modalities.

RESULTS

Of 250,614 patients, 4,233 (1.7%) had CRA, 5,226 (2.1%) had BC, 147,621 (59.9%) had PB, and 93,534 (37.3%) had SB. Older patients were more likely to receive CRA (adjusted odds ratio [ORadj] = 5.3) and less likely to receive SB (ORadj = 0.73). Black patients were less likely to receive SB (ORadj = 0.83) and more likely to receive BC (ORadj = 1.31). Private insurance was associated with SB (ORadj = 1.11), whereas Medicaid was associated with BC (ORadj = 1.21). Patients more than 50 miles from the facility were more likely to undergo SB (ORadj = 1.25 vs PB; ORadj = 1.30 vs CRA; ORadj = 1.38 vs BC). Patients receiving SB had shorter days from diagnosis to treatment (23.0 vs 53.5 to 64.7 for other modalities, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Diagnostic SB to confirm early-stage NSCLC was associated with younger age, greater travel distance, and shorter time to treatment in comparison with other modalities. Black race and non-private insurance were less likely to be associated with SB.

Selection of the surgical approach for patients with cStage IA lung squamous cell carcinoma: A population-based propensity score matching analysis

Background

This study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the survival rates after segmentectomy, wedge resection, or lobectomy in patients with cStage IA lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Methods

We enrolled 4,316 patients who had cStage IA lung SCC from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The Cox proportional hazards model was conducted to recognize the potential risk factors for overall survival (OS) and lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS). To eliminate potential biases of included patients, the propensity score matching (PSM) method was used. OS and LCSS rates were compared among three groups stratified according to tumor size.

Results

Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed no statistical differences in the rates of OS and LCSS between wedge resection (WR) and segmentectomy (SG) groups for patients who had cStage IA cancers. In patients with tumors ≤ 1 cm, LCSS favored lobectomy (Lob) compared to segmentectomy (SG), but a similar survival rate was obtained for wedge resection (WR) and lobectomy (Lob). For patients with tumors sized 1.1 to 2 cm, lobectomy had improved OS and LCSS rates compared to the segmentectomy or wedge resection groups, with the exception of a similar OS rate for lobectomy and segmentectomy. For tumors sized 2.1 to 3 cm, lobectomy had a higher rate of OS or LCSS than wedge resection or segmentectomy, except that lobectomy conferred a similar LCSS rate compared to segmentectomy. Multivariable analyses showed that patients aged ≥75 and tumor sizes of &gt;2 to ≤3 cm were potential risk factors for OS and LCSS, while lobectomy and first malignant primary indicator were considered protective factors. The Cox proportional analysis also confirmed that male patients aged ≥65 to &lt;75 were independent prognostic factors that are indicative of a worse OS rate.

Conclusions

The tumor size can influence the surgical procedure recommended for individuals with cStage IA lung SCC. For patients with tumors ≤1 cm, lobectomy is the recommended approach, and wedge resection or segmentectomy might be an alternative for those who cannot tolerate lobectomy if adequate surgical margin is achievable and enough nodes are sampled. For tumors &gt;1 to ≤3 cm, lobectomy showed better survival outcomes than sublobar resection. Our findings require further validation by randomized controlled trial (RCT) or other evidence.

Survival After Lobectomy vs. Sublobar Resection for Stage IA Large-Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Lung: A Population-Based Study

Objective

Due to the low incidence of pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), the survival analysis for comparing lobectomy and sublobar resection (SLR) for stage IA LCNEC remains scarce.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with pathological stage IA LCNEC between 1998 and 2016 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The oncological outcomes were cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox multivariate analysis were used to identify the independent prognostic factors for OS and CSS. Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) was performed between SLR and lobectomy to adjust the confounding factors.

Results

A total of 308 patients with stage IA LCNEC met the inclusion criteria: 229 patients (74.4%) received lobectomy and 79 patients (25.6%) received SLR. Patients who underwent SLR were older (P < 0.001), had smaller tumor size (P = 0.010), and less lymph nodes dissection (P < 0.001). The 5-year CSS and OS rates were 56.5 and 42.9% for SLR, and 67.8 and 55.7% for lobectomy, respectively (P = 0.037 and 0.019, respectively). However, multivariate analysis did not identify any differences between the SLR group and lobectomy group in CSS (P = 0.135) and OS (P = 0.285); and the PSM also supported these results. In addition, the age at diagnosis and laterality of tumor were identified as significant predictors for CSS and OS, whereas the number of lymph nodes dissection was a significant predictor for CSS.

Conclusions

Although SLR is not inferior to lobectomy in terms of oncological outcomes for patients with stage IA LCNEC, more lymph nodes can be dissected or sampled during lobectomy. Lobectomy should still be considered as a standard procedure for patients with early-stage LCNEC who are able to withstand lobectomy.

Segmentectomy or Wedge Resection in Stage IA Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Adenocarcinoma?

Objectives: We performed this study to compare survival outcomes of segmentectomy (SG) and wedge resection (WR) in stage IA lung squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) and lung adenocarcinoma (AD). Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry (SEER), we identified 1529 and 4070 patients with stage IA SQCC and AD, respectively, who had complete clinical information between 2004 and 2015. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis to determine the propensity score for patients with limited resection based on the preoperative characteristics of patients. Lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS) was compared in patients treated with WR and SG after adjusting, stratifying, or matching lung cancer patients according to propensity score. Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in survival curves (log rank P=0.01) for patients with stage IA SQCC between SG and WR. But there was no statistically significant difference in survival curves (log rank P>0.05) in patients with stage IA AD between the two limited resections. Compared with the WR, The hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of SG were 0.689 (0.519-0.914) and 0.896 (0.752-1.067) in patients with stage IA SQCC and AD, respectively. Conclusion: This study suggests that SG can yield superior survival outcome compared with WR in patients with stage IA SQCC. However, the survival outcomes of SG and WR are generally equivalent in patients with stage IA AD.

Spiral wire localization of lung nodules: procedure effectiveness and oncological usefulness

Background

In the last years, a large number of techniques and devices for localizing small pulmonary nodules prior to resection have been developed with the aim of facilitating minimally invasive surgery (VATS). However, each device presents pros and cons and there is no unanimous consensus. We report our experience with an uncommon wire system with spiral shape for percutaneous marking.

Methods

We recorded 102 consecutive CT-guided spiral wire localizations in our Institution, and we evaluated the efficacy of the method according to 4 success rates (SR): (I) successful targeting rate (SR-1): number of successful targeting procedures/number of all localizations; (II) successful localization in operative field (SR-2): (number of successful targeting procedures -number of dislodgements in operative field)/number of all localizations; (III) successful VATS rate (SR-3): number of successful VATS procedures/(number of localizations-number of thoracotomies not due to wire dislocation); (IV) successful curative rate (SR-4): number of neoplastic nodules resected with curative intent with free margins (R0) on definitive tissue diagnosis/number of neoplastic nodules resected with curative intent. Complications rate was recorded as well.

Results

SR-1: 100%, SR-2: 97.1%, SR-3: 100%, SR-4: 100%. Asymptomatic pneumothorax and minimal parenchymal hemorrhage were observed in 5 (4.9%) and 19 (18.6%) cases, respectively.

Conclusions

Spiral wire localization showed very good results in terms of feasibility, stability in operative field and contributed to effective use of VATS during wedge resection performed for malignant nodules. In the era of widespread radiological investigations (as it is happening in lung cancer screening) and evolutions in cancer treatments, this appears to be clinically relevant.