PURPOSE:To clarify the prognostic impact and associated complications of mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) in older adults with radiologically pure solid clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), using data from a nationwide surgical database in Japan (n = 18,973). PATIENTS AND METHODS:Of 2075 older adults (≥75 years of age), who underwent complete anatomical resection for clinical stage I NSCLC and registered in the database, data from 1313 with pure-solid tumours on preoperative computed tomography were included. To compare survival and the incidence of postoperative complications, patients were classified into two groups according to the extent of lymph node dissection: MLND; and non-MLND. An inverse probability of treatment weighting method with propensity scoring was used to reduce selection bias. After matching, 1162 patients were analysed for overall survival (OS), and 1153 for disease-free survival (DFS) and cumulative incidence of recurrence (CIR). RESULTS:Before matching, the MLND group exhibited significantly better DFS and OS than the non-MLND group (P = .030 and P = .013, respectively). Multivariable analysis revealed that MLND did not affect the incidence of postoperative complications (≥ grade III). After matching, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of DFS, OS, or CIR (P = .536, P = .409, and P = .933, respectively). CONCLUSION:MLND did not yield a survival benefit in older adults (≥75 years of age) even with radiologically pure-solid clinical stage I NSCLC. Anatomical pulmonary resection without MLND may be an alternative treatment option for these patients.

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to investigate the characteristics and clinical courses of patients with pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) and compare the differences across lung cancer types. METHODS:This prospective study included 11,310 patients with LCNEC, small cell lung cancer (SCLC), squamous cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma from the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry (JJCLCR) database. The registry was opened in January 2012, and the follow-up was completed in April 2016. RESULTS:In total, 80 patients (0.7 %) were diagnosed with LCNEC. LCNEC shared similar patient characteristics with SCLC, characterized by a median age of 68 years and a high prevalence of men (93.8 %) and smokers (97.5 %). In stage IV patients, the best overall response and disease control rates for first-line cisplatin-based chemotherapy were 34.8 % and 43.5 % for LCNEC but 60.6 % and 69.7 % for SCLC. Similarly, the overall response and disease control rates for first-line carboplatin-based chemotherapy in stage IV patients were 29.4 % and 41.2 % for LCNEC, but 56.1 % and 68.4 % for SCLC. The 3-year survival rates for LCNEC, SCLC, squamous cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma were 14.2 %, 15.9 %, 17.8 %, and 27.1 %, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves of overall survival showed similarity between LCNEC and SCLC, with no statistical significance in the Cox hazard analysis (hazard ratio 0.818, 95 % confidence interval 0.611-1.096, p = 0.178). CONCLUSIONS:Although patient characteristics and survival curves were similar in LCNEC and SCLC, our data demonstrate that LCNEC had inferior overall response and disease control rates in response to first-line chemotherapy compared to SCLC.

ABSTRACT Background Palliative interventions, such as chest tube drainage and radiotherapy for bone and brain metastases, are crucial for managing survival and quality of life in patients with advanced lung cancer. Methods This retrospective study analyzed 8171 patients with unresectable Stage IV lung cancer from the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry (JJCLCR) database. At treatment initiation, 8.6% of patients underwent chest tube drainage, 9.9% underwent bone radiotherapy, and 11.5% underwent brain radiotherapy. In this study, associated factors for palliative interventions were evaluated, and their impact on patient survival was also assessed. Results High‐associated factors for upfront chest tube drainage included age ≥ 75 years, ECOG‐PS ≥ 2, pleural nodules, and adenocarcinoma, while EGFR mutation, serum albumin ≥ 3.2 mg/dL, adrenal gland, and brain metastases were low‐associated factors. For upfront brain radiotherapy, low‐associated factors included malignant pleural effusion (MPE) and bone metastases, whereas ECOG‐PS ≥ 2 was a high‐associated factor. High‐associated factors for upfront bone radiotherapy were serum albumin ≥ 3.2 mg/dL, ECOG‐PS ≥ 2, adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma, while pleural nodules, MPE, liver, and brain metastasis were low‐associated factors. Patients receiving upfront bone radiotherapy had shorter survival, whereas survival did not significantly differ for those with or without upfront chest tube drainage or brain radiotherapy. Conclusion This study identified associated factors for palliative interventions in advanced lung cancer and their association with overall survival. Future prospective studies with more detailed data are necessary to confirm these findings and improve clinical decision‐making. Trial Registration: Approval No. 15,321

Introduction: Data on chemotherapy for elderly, poor performance status (PS) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are clinically important but insufficient due to their exclusion from most interventional studies. This study aims to explore actual treatment status and prognosis, as well as factors predicting patients who may benefit from chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Advanced NSCLC patients aged >= 75 years with PS 2-3 and no/unknown driver mutations were included. In each of PS2 and PS3 cohorts, we compared the overall survival (OS) of the chemotherapy and Best Supportive Care (BSC) group after adjusting by inverse probability weighting (IPW) method, and analyzed prognostic factors using the COX proportional hazards model. We defined the patients with body weight loss >= 5 % within 6 months as cancer cachexia in this study. Results: This study included 282 patients (Chemotherapy;107, BSC;175) in PS2 cohort and 230 patients (Chemotherapy;39, BSC;191) in PS3 cohort. In both PS2 and PS3 cohorts, IPW-adjusted OS was significantly longer in the chemotherapy group than in the BSC group (HR 0.42 [95 % CI 0.32-0.55] and 0.56 [95 % CI 0.41-0.75], p < 0.001 and 0.003, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that cancer cachexia and stage IV were significantly associated with OS in PS2 cohort. For patients with cancer cachexia in PS3 cohort, chemotherapy did not prolong OS (HR 0.81 [95 % CI 0.45-1.45], p = 0.530). Conclusion: Chemotherapy might provide a survival benefit even for elderly, poor PS NSCLC patients. In vulnerable PS 3 patients, cancer cachexia may be useful in predicting patients who may benefit from chemotherapy.

Background : Surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy is currently the first choice for the treatment of clinical N1 (cN1) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, diagnosing cN1 correctly can be difficult, even with current imaging diagnostic technologies. We aimed to analyze the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative nodal status and the predictive factors for nodal upstaging of cN1-NSCLC. Methods : Patients receiving surgery for cN1-NSCLC in 2010 (n = 1040) were enrolled in the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry Database. We investigated the diagnostic accuracy of cN1, predictive factors for nodal upstaging, and prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results : The 5-year OS and RFS for all patients were 58.2% and 42.7%, respectively. The postoperative pathological nodal status included N0 (36.6%), N1 (39.7%), N2 (23.6%), and N3 (0.1%). In multivariate analysis, younger age (P = .005), no history of smoking (P = .006), and adenocarcinoma (P < .001) were significant predictive factors for nodal upstaging. Older age (P < .001) and higher clinical T (cT) factor (P < .001) were significant indicators for worse OS, while older age (P = .02), higher cT factor (P = .019), high carcinoembryonic antigen value (P = .002), and adenocarcinoma (P = .008) were significant indicators for worse RFS. Conclusions : The diagnostic accuracy of cN1 in this study was similar to 40%. No history of smoking and adenocarcinoma were significant predictors for nodal upstaging. Although younger age was a significant predictor for nodal upstaging, it was a significant factor for better prognosis.

The objective of this study was to clarify the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of resected lung adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) using a multi-institutional database. The ASC showed worse survival than both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, showing the aggressive biological behavior. No apparent survival impact of conventional adjuvant chemotherapy prompted us to investigate novel adjuvant strategies. Objectives: The objective of this study was to clarify the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of resected lung adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) using a nationwide multi-institutional database. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 15,542 patients who underwent complete R0 resection for ASC (n = 326), adenocarcinoma (AC, n = 11,820), or squamous cell carcinoma (SC, n = 3396) from a Japanese lung cancer registry in 2010. To reduce the selection bias, an inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method using a propensity score was implemented. Results: The ASC group showed worse recurrence-free and overall survival (RFS and OS) than both the AC and SC groups (5-year OS: 57.5% in ASC, 83.9% in AC [< < 0.001], and 62.3% in SC [P P = .086]). In multivariate analyses, prognostic factors that affected OS for ASC included male, p-stage II-III, and postoperative complications within 30 days (grade >= 3 in the Clavien-Dindo classification). The sensitizing EGFR mutation was detected in 28 (21.5%) of 130 screened patients with ASC, but it did not affect either RFS, OS, or postrecurrence survival. Although more patients in the ASC group received adjuvant chemotherapy compared to the AC and SC groups, both multivariate and IPTW-adjusted analyses did not show positive impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on RFS and OS in ASC. Conclusions: In this nationwide registry study, lung ASC was more aggressive than both AC and SC. No apparent survival impact of conventional adjuvant chemotherapy prompted us to investigate novel adjuvant strategies to optimize survival outcomes. Clinical Lung Cancer, Vol. 25, No. 6, 519-528 (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

BACKGROUND:Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung is a rare histological type of non-small cell lung cancer with a poor prognosis. We aimed to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of surgically resected sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung. METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed 14999 patients who underwent surgical resection for non-small cell lung cancer accumulated by the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry in 2010. Clinicopathological characteristics and survival were compared between the sarcomatoid carcinoma and other non-small cell cancer groups. The prognostic factors in the sarcomatoid carcinoma group were identified using a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS:Patients with sarcomatoid carcinoma comprised 1.4% of all patients. The sarcomatoid carcinoma group demonstrated a more aggressive pathology with presentation at more advanced stages, requiring more frequent extensive surgical resections. The sarcomatoid carcinoma group had remarkably poorer overall and recurrence-free survival than the other non-small cell lung cancer group. Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved survival for pathological stage II-III sarcomatoid carcinoma cases rather than for pathological stage I disease. In the multivariate analysis, larger tumor size, lymphatic permeation, and no adjuvant chemotherapy were associated with the sarcomatoid carcinoma group's overall and recurrence-free survival. CONCLUSIONS:Surgically resected sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung has a higher aggressive and metastatic potential and a worse prognosis than other non-small cell lung cancers. Adjuvant chemotherapy, which was associated with enhanced survival in patients with pathological stage II-III of the disease, could be considered for treating patients with pathological stage II-III sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung.

BACKGROUND:In advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, those with impaired performance status (PS) treated with EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have demonstrated comparable activities to good-PS patients. Due to the limited sample size and inclusion of older adult patients with good PS, these findings may not accurately depict the efficacy of EGFR-TKI in poor-PS patients. We investigated the benefit of EGFR-TKIs in this population and identified relevant prognostic factors.PATIENTS AND METHODS:This nationwide prospective registry study included 9872 patients with local or advanced NSCLC. Outcomes were compared between poor- and good-PS patients treated with EGFR-mutated lung cancer therapies.RESULTS:Of 9872 NSCLC patients, 1965 (19.9%) had EGFR mutations, with 1846 (93.9%) presenting common EGFR mutations. Poor PS (PS score ≥ 3) was noted in 171 patients (8.7%) and identified as an independent prognostic factor; those with poor PS had a significantly lower 1-year survival rate. The median overall survival (OS) for EGFR-TKI-treated good-PS patients was 31.5 (95% confidence interval, 29.6-33.4) months. Among poor-PS patients with EGFR mutations, 135 (78.9%) of whom were treated with EGFR-TKI had an OS of 15.5 (12.7-18.3) months, while those receiving only supportive care had an OS of 2.5 (1.4-3.6) months (P < .001). Hypoalbuminemia (< 3.5 g/dL), liver metastasis, and uncommon EGFR mutations were associated with poor prognosis.CONCLUSION:Poor PS at diagnosis was rare and associated with limited EGFR-TKI efficacy and a dismal prognosis. Liver metastasis and hypoalbuminemia may reduce EGFR-TKI efficacy in these patients.

Purpose Given that left upper lobe and right upper and middle lobes share a similar anatomy, segmentectomy, such as upper division and lingulectomy, should yield identical oncological clearance to left upper lobectomy. We compared the prognosis of segmentectomy with that of lobectomy for early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the left upper lobe.Methods We retrospectively examined 2115 patients who underwent segmentectomy or lobectomy for c-stage I (TNM 8th edition) NSCLC in the left upper lobe in 2010. We compared the oncological outcomes of segmentectomy (n = 483) and lobectomy (n = 483) using a propensity score matching analysis.Results The 5-year recurrence-free and overall survival rates in the segmentectomy and lobectomy groups were comparable, irrespective of c-stage IA or IB. Subset analyses according to radiological tumor findings showed that segmentectomy yielded oncological outcomes comparable to those of lobectomy for non-pure solid tumors. In cases where the solid tumor exceeded 20 mm, segmentectomy showed a recurrence-free survival inferior to that of lobectomy (p = 0.028), despite an equivalent overall survival (p = 0.38).Conclusion Segmentectomy may be an acceptable alternative to lobectomy with regard to the overall survival of patients with c-stage I NSCLC in the left upper lobe.

We compared two groups of cells using a method for identifying genes, called differentially expressed genes, whose expression levels differed between the groups, such as normal and cancer cells, using genomic data. One of the widely used methods for identifying differentially expressed genes involves testing each gene for two groups of expression levels. We compared five tests, such as the student's t test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, moderated t test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and Brunner-Munzel test, to assess the expression levels in the two groups. The simulations were conducted under four conditions: (1) the first situation assumes homoscedasticity of expression levels and independence of genes; (2) the second situation assumes only homoscedasticity of the expression levels; (3) the third situation assumes only the independence of the genes; (4) the remaining situation cannot assume homoscedasticity and independence. Then, we used the area under the curve (AUC) as the evaluation index. The AUC was larger for the moderated t test, student's t test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Brunner-Munzel test, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.

Background and ObjectivesAnaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement is a representative driver mutation in lung cancer. However, the biology of early-stage ALK-rearranged lung cancer remains unclear. We aimed to assess the clinicopathological features, prognostic implications, and influence of ALK rearrangement on the postoperative course in surgically resected lung cancer. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed data from the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry database. Of the 12 730 patients with lung adenocarcinoma, 794 (6.2%) were tested for ALK rearrangement and were included. ResultsALK rearrangements were detected in 76 patients (10%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was significantly higher in the ALK rearrangement-positive group than in the ALK rearrangement-negative group (p = 0.030). Multivariable analysis revealed that ALK rearrangement was an independent prognostic factor for improved OS (hazard ratio, 0.521; 95% confidence interval, 0.298-0.911; p = 0.022). Regarding the postrecurrence state, there was no difference in the initial recurrence sites between both groups. Administration of ALK-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) improved postrecurrence survival in any treatment lines. ConclusionIn one of the largest national surveys, ALK rearrangement was associated with improved long-term outcomes in surgically resected patients. ALK-TKIs may be an important treatment strategy for ALK rearrangement-positive lung adenocarcinoma in the postrecurrence state.

Purpose: In this study, we compare the estimation methods of interval-censored data using both simulated and real data. Many past studies have used fixed sample sizes in their simulation studies. We performed the best possible simulation study. Method: The methods include Finkelstein’s method with Piecewise and Spline and imputation methods (i.e., Efron’s method in the Cox model). Results: If the interval-censored data do not overlap, the same estimation results are obtained regardless of the assignment point for the estimation of the Cox model. The overlapping data also did not significantly affect the accuracy of the estimation. On the other hand, Finkelstein’s method showed differences in estimation depending on the two estimation methods of the baseline survival function. Although it was not possible to determine which method had better power, the Spline method had a smaller absolute error than the Finkelstein method. A comparison of Cox’s and Finkelstein’s methods showed that Finkelstein’s method was superior in terms of power. Conclusion: Interval-censored data is a form of data that can be found in a variety of fields. In this study, we compared estimation methods for interval-censored data, and the usefulness of Finkelstein’s method can be seen from simulation studies.

BACKGROUND:The efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in elderly patients with completely resected p-stage II-IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear because all previous randomized controlled trials on ACT have been conducted among patients aged <75 years. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ACT in elderly patients with completely resected NSCLC.PATIENTS:We extracted the nationwide data of 812 patients aged ≥75 years who underwent lobectomy with mediastinal nodal dissection in 2010 and were diagnosed with p-stage II-IIIA NSCLC, from nationwide registry data accumulated in 2016.METHODS:We classified the 812 patients into 2 groups based on the ACT administration status and analyzed the differences in their postoperative overall survival (OS).RESULTS:Overall, 295 patients received ACT (36.3%; group A), whereas 517 patients did not (63.70%; group N). Group A showed significantly better OS as a whole (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.650 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.526-0.804]), in the p-stage II subset (HR: 0.688 [95% CI: 0.513-0.925]), and p-stage IIIA subset (HR: 0.547 [95% CI: 0.402-0.743]) than group N. Even after propensity score matching, group A showed significantly better OS as a whole (HR: 0.626 [95% CI: 0.495-0.792]), in the p-stage II subset (HR: 0.690 [95% CI: 0.493-0.964]), and p-stage IIIA subset (HR: 0.554 [95% CI: 0.398-0.772]) than group N.CONCLUSION:ACT is recommended even in elderly patients with completely resected p-stage II-IIIA NSCLC. Hence, physicians should not avoid ACT in patients with completely resected NSCLC based solely on age.

OBJECTIVE:The efficacy of tegafur-uracil as adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with completely resected stage I non-small-cell lung cancer is proven; however, its efficacy for elderly patients remains unclear. Herein, we evaluated the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy for elderly patients with completely resected stage I non-small-cell lung cancer based on real-world Japanese data using propensity score matching.METHODS:This retrospective study extracted data from a nationwide registry study, performed in 2016, on patients ≥75 years who underwent lobectomy with mediastinal nodal dissection for non-small-cell lung cancer in 2010 and were diagnosed with p-stage IA (>2 cm) or stage IB non-small-cell lung cancer. We classified the 1294 patients into two groups-Group A, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 295, 22.8%) and Group N, no adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 999, 77.2%)-and analyzed differences in postoperative overall survival between groups.RESULTS:Group A showed no advantage in overall survival over Group N as a whole (hazard ratio: 0.824 [95% confidence interval: 0.631-1.076]), in p-stage IA (hazard ratio: 0.617 [95% confidence interval: 0.330-1.156]) and in p-stage IB (hazard ratio: 0.806 [95% confidence interval: 0.597-1.088]) subsets. Even after propensity score matching, Group A showed no significant advantage in overall survival over Group N as a whole (hazard ratio: 0.975 [95% confidence interval: 0.688-1.381]), in p-stage IA (hazard ratio: 1.390 [95% confidence interval: 0.539-3.586]) and in p-stage IB (hazard ratio: 0.922 [95% confidence interval: 0.633-1.343]).CONCLUSIONS:adjuvant chemotherapy for completely resected p-stage IA (>2 cm) and stage IB non-small-cell lung cancer showed no benefit for recommendation for elderly patients; considering the risk of adverse events, we do not recommend adjuvant chemotherapy for elderly patients.

BACKGROUND:Cancer cachexia is a syndrome that does not fully recover with nutritional support and causes appetite loss and body weight loss. It worsens a patient's quality of life and prognosis. In this study, the epidemiology of cachexia in lung cancer, its risk factors and its impact on chemotherapy response rate and prognosis were examined using the national database of the Japan Lung Cancer Society. Understanding these things related to cancer cachexia is important as a starting point in overcoming cancer cachexia in patients with lung cancer.METHODS:In 2012, 12 320 patients from 314 institutions in Japan were registered in a nationwide registry database (Japanese Lung Cancer Registry Study). Of these, data on body weight loss within 6 months were available for 8489 patients. We defined the patients with body weight loss ≥ 5% within 6 months, which is one of the three criteria listed in the 2011 international consensus definition of cancer cachexia, as cachectic in this study.RESULTS:Approximately 20.4% of the 8489 patients had cancer cachexia. Sex, age, smoking history, emphysema, performance status, superior vena cava syndrome, clinical stage, site of metastasis, histology, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status, primary treatment method and serum albumin levels were significantly different between patients with and without cachexia. Logistic analyses showed that smoking history, emphysema, clinical stage, site of metastasis, histology, EGFR mutation, serum calcium and albumin levels were significantly associated with cancer cachexia. The response to initial therapy, including chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy, was significantly poorer in the patients with cachexia than in those without cachexia (response rate: 49.7% vs. 41.5%, P < 0.001). Overall survival was significantly shorter in the patients with cachexia than in those without cachexia in both univariate and multivariable analyses (1-year survival rate: 60.7% vs. 37.6%, Cox proportional hazards model, hazard ratio: 1.369, 95% confidence interval: 1.274-1.470, P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:Cancer cachexia was seen in approximately one fifth of the lung cancer patients and was related to some baseline patient characteristics. It was also associated with a poor response to initial treatment, resulting in poor prognosis. The results of our study may be useful for early identification and intervention in patients with cachexia, which may improve their response to treatment and their prognosis.

Introduction: Pembrolizumab is a programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitor that was initially indicated for mono-therapy in patients with advanced lung cancer. The Japanese Lung Cancer Society conducted an observational study on pembrolizumab using confirmative data obtained through postmarketing all-case surveillance (PMACS), which was performed by a pharmaceutical company under the Japanese law in 2017.Methods: This multicenter observational study was conducted by the Japanese Lung Cancer Society using PMACS data with the newly created central registration system regarding patients with NSCLC who received pembrolizumab monotherapy between February 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017; a new database was created by adding the clinical information regarding prognosis for 3 years after therapy to the existing data collected by PMACS. Results: A total of 300 patients from 43 facilities were enrolled in this study. The median overall survival and progression-free survival after pembrolizumab initiation were 558 and 188 days, respectively. Moreover, the 1-and 3-year survival rates were 58.9% and 33.7%, respectively.Results of multivariate analysis revealed performance status (p < 0.0001), histology (p = 0.0118), previous chemotherapy (p = 0.0007), programmed death-ligand expression status (p = 0.0195), and previous steroid use (p = 0.0460) as significant factors that affected overall survival. The toxicity profile was similar to that previously reported.Conclusions: In this first attempt to use PMACS data, we successfully collected clinical information and found the real-world efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/).

Objective We studied the prognosis and clinicopathological background of lung adenocarcinoma predominance among patients who underwent lobectomy using data from the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry. Methods Two thousand eight hundred sixty-three cases were extracted. Recurrence free survival (RFS) rates, overall survival (OS) rates and clinicopathological factors and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status were examined. Results Median follow-up period was 65.5 months. Adenocarcinoma predominance was sub-grouped according to OS and RFS rate. In pathological stage I, 5-year RFS and OS rates were respectively 92.2% and 95.8% in group A (adenocarcinoma-in-situ + minimally invasive adenocarcinoma), 89.3% and 92.1% in group B (lepidic), 79.2% and 89.7% in group C (papillary + acinar + variants) and 69.0% and 79.0% in group D (solid + micropapillary). In pathological stage II + IIIA, they were, 43.6% and 72.4% in B, 39.5% and 66.9% in C and 31.0% and 53.7% in D. Group D showed significant worst outcome both in stage I and II + IIIA. Up stage rate from clinical stage I to pathological stage II + IIIA was 0.0%, 3.7%, 15.9% and 33.3%. The frequency of lymph-vessel, vascular, pleura invasion and positive EGFR mutation were 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.0% and 57.1% in group A, 15.6%, 10.0%, 12.1% and 55.1% in B, 36.6%, 31.8%, 29.7% and 44.9% in C, 50.2%, 57.8%, 38.9% and 21.3% in D. In group D, lymph-vessel, vascular and pleura invasion were most, EGFR mutation was least frequent not only in pathological stage I but also stage II + IIIA. In multivariate analysis, age, pathological stage, vascular invasion, and group D were independent factors affected RFS and OS. Conclusion Limited to lobectomy cases, solid + micropapillary was independent prognostic factor both in early and locally advanced stage. Its malignant degree was related to the frequency of pathological invasive factors and EGFR mutation status.

Objective: To investigate the association of preoperative renal dysfunction and long-term outcomes following lung cancer surgery. Methods: Using the Japanese Lung Cancer Registry data, we retrospectively examined 16,377 patients who underwent surgery for non-small cell lung cancer during 2010. Patients' renal function status was categorized as follows: serum creatinine <1.5 mg/dL (control, n = 16,169), serum creatinine >= 1.5 mg/dL with no dialysis (nondialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease, n = 113), and dialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease (n = 95). The association of patients' characteristics with overall survival was evaluated using multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. Results: The 5-year overall survival rates in patients with dialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease and with nondialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease were significantly worse than that in the control group (52.9% and 57.5% vs 78.0%; P < .001 for both comparisons), but were comparable to the reported 5-year overall survival rates in the natural history of end-stage renal disease (similar to 60%) and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (similar to 50%). Cancer causes not related to lung cancer accounted for 62.2% of deaths in dialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease, which was more frequent than that in the control group (P = .002). Dialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease and nondialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease were independent risk factors for overall survival after lung cancer surgery (hazard ratio, 2.05 [P < .001] and hazard ratio, 2.04 [P = .001], respectively). Conclusions: Preoperative renal dysfunction may be adversely associated with overall survival after lung cancer surgery. Our findings could aid patients to set proper expectation of the risks and benefits about surgery for lung cancer.

Abstract Background Platinum-based chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment for unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of subsequent chemotherapy for relapsed NSCLC following platinum-based chemoradiotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of platinum-doublet chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC. Methods We retrospectively evaluated patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy following platinum-based chemoradiotherapy who were registered in a nationwide registry NSCLC database. Patients were divided into the platinum-doublet chemotherapy (platinum) group and single-agent chemotherapy (non-platinum) group based on the type of second-line chemotherapy. Results The platinum group (n = 119) showed significantly better overall survival (OS) than the non-platinum group (n = 201) (median OS: 21.5 vs. 10.5 months, hazard ratio [HR]: 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.40–0.73, p < 0.001). OS from the beginning of chemoradiotherapy was also significantly better in the platinum group than in the non-platinum group (median OS: 34.9 vs. 21.8 months, HR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.43–0.79, p = 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, platinum-doublet chemotherapy as second-line therapy, female sex, clinical stage IIIA, and duration of ≥ 8.6 months from the beginning of first-line therapy to the beginning of second-line therapy were associated with significantly better OS. Conclusion Platinum-doublet chemotherapy as a second-line therapy may prolong survival in unresectable stage III NSCLC patients following platinum-based chemoradiotherapy. Thus, re-administration of platinum agents may be a promising treatment for unresectable stage III NSCLC treated with platinum-based chemoradiotherapy.

OBJECTIVES:Radiologically invasive non-small-cell lung cancer, defined as consolidation size to maximum tumour diameter ratio of over 0.5, is associated with pathological invasiveness and worse prognosis. However, there are no real-world, nationwide database studies on limited resections that consider radiological invasiveness. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic validity of limited resection, such as segmentectomy and wedge resection, in cStage IA (TNM 8th edition) radiologically invasive lung cancer.METHODS:We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent complete resection according to the Japanese Joint Committee of Lung Cancer Registry Database. The relationship between surgical procedures and prognosis was examined using stratification by cT factor and radiological invasiveness.RESULTS:Among the 5,692 patients enrolled, lobectomy, segmentectomy and wedge resection were performed in 4,323 (80.0%), 657 (11.5%) and 712 (12.5%) patients, respectively. Multivariable analysis with or without propensity score matching indicated that older age, poor performance status and wedge resection were significantly associated with worse prognosis and that patients who underwent segmentectomy showed an equivalent prognosis to those who underwent lobectomy. Subset analyses revealed that segmentectomy showed an equivalent prognosis to lobectomy in patients with cT1b or less, but not in those with cT1c, especially for non-pure radiological invasive cT1c; 5-year overall survival rates were 91.4% vs 90.4% in cT1b with non-pure radiological invasiveness and 80.0% vs 83.8% in cT1b with pure radiological invasiveness, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:Segmentectomy can be an alternative to lobectomy in patients with radiologically invasive lung cancer with cT1b or less but not in those with cT1c.