Is there a survival difference between single station and multi-station N2 disease in operated non-small cell lung cancer patients?

Microabstract Study investigated if there was a survival difference between sinN2 and mulN2 disease in operated NSCLC patients. 73 patients had sinN2 and 38 patients had mulN2 disease. The median survival and the 5-year survival rate of sinN2 and mulN2 were 26 months and 20.5% against 20 months and 0%, respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference between two groups (0.032). Background The most important parameter determining the treatment and survival in non-small cell lung cancer is the stage of the disease and the associated lymph node involvement. The present study investigated if there was a survival difference between single-station N2 (sinN2-Group 1) and multi-station N2 (mulN2-Group 2) disease in operated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Materials and methods The patients, who were diagnosed with NSCLC and underwent anatomic resection and mediastinal lymph node dissection and found to have ipsilateral lymph node metastasis between January 2005 and December 2011 in our clinic, were investigated retrospectively. Results 801 patients had anatomic resection. Among these patients, a total of 111 patients (13.8%) were found pathological N2 (+). 73 (66.6%) patients had sinN2 and 38 (33.4%) patients had mulN2 disease. Out of these patients, 94 (85.4%) were male and 17 (14.6%) were female, and the mean age was 58.9±10.2 (35–82) years. The median survival and the 5-year survival rate of sinN2 and mulN2 were 26 months and 20.5% against 20 months and 0%, respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference between two groups (0.032). Conclusions TNM system used in the current lung cancer staging assesses only the localizations of the metastatic lymph node stations. However, it seems that the localization of the lymph node stations alone is not completely enough for an estimated survival. The present study has found poorer survival in the multi-station N2 patients than the single-station N2 patients, which is also statistically significant.