The Clinical Role of Adjuvant Chemotherapy after Sublobar Resection for Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer ≤ 20 mm with Lymph Node Metastases: A Propensity-Matched Analysis of the National Cancer Database.

Simple Summary: Sublobar resection is commonly used for treating small-sized non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy for these patients, particularly those with pathological lymph node metastasis, remains unclear. A study using data from the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2018 reviewed cases of NSCLC patients who had undergone sublobar resection with lymph node metastasis and met specific criteria, including tumor size ≤ 20 mm and no comorbidities. The study found that, after adjusting for age, sex, histologic type, and pathological lymph node status through propensity score matching, patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy had a notably longer survival than those who did not (median survival of 64.3 vs. 34.0 months). The results indicate that adjuvant chemotherapy significantly enhances survival in small-sized-NSCLC patients with lymph node involvement post-sublobar resection. Sublobar resection is a standard surgical procedure for small-sized non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the clinical role of adjuvant chemotherapy for small-sized NSCLC with pathological lymph node (LN) metastasis after sublobar resection is unknown. The National Cancer Database was queried for NSCLC patients between 2004 and 2018. Eligibility included sublobar resection with pathological LN metastasis, R0 resection, Charlson comorbidity score = 0, clinical stage T1a-b, and tumor size ≤ 20 mm. The Kaplan–Meier method with a log-rank test and multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses were used for assessing survival. The samples were evaluated before and after propensity score matching (PSM) with respect to age, sex, histologic type, and pathological LN status. Of 810 patients who met the eligibility criteria, 567 (70.0%) underwent adjuvant chemotherapy. After PSM, patients with adjuvant chemotherapy had a significantly longer survival than those without (median survival: 64.3 vs. 34.0 months, hazard ratio for death: 0.61, p < 0.0001). Multivariate analyses after PSM showed that younger age (p = 0.0206), female (p = 0.0005), and adjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.0001) were independent prognostic factors for longer survival. Adjuvant chemotherapy has a prognostic impact in patients with small-sized NSCLC and pathological lymph node metastasis who undergo sublobar resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]