Prognostic Factors for Survival of Stage IB Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A 10-Year Follow-Up Retrospective Study

Background This study aimed to determine the prognostic factors for the long-term outcome of stage IB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Surgically resected patients with stage IB NSCLC diagnosed (based on TNM 8th edition) between April 2008 and December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. The prognosis and possible risk factors among the stage IB NSCLC patients were evaluated. Results Of the 349 patients identified for the study, 80 (22.9%) received post-surgery adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). The median follow-up time after surgery was 123.3 months. The 10-year overall survival (OS) rate was 69.6%, and the 10-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was 62.8%. The patients in this cohort were divided into three groups (T1 with visceral pleural invasion [VPI], T2a without VPI, and T2a with VPI), and no significant differences in OS or RFS were found among the groups. Furthermore, survival analysis indicated that the absence of ground-glass opacity (GGO) components portends an adverse long-term OS and RFS. In a subgroup of patients with solid nodules, age older than 65 years (hazard ratio [HR] 1.987; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.312–3.010; p = 0.001) and ACT (HR 0.392; 95% CI 0.225–0.684; p < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for OS, whereas lymphovascular invasion (HR 1.792; 95% CI 0.995–3.227; p = 0.052) should be considered as an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for RFS. Conclusions As an upstaging factor, VPI did not further stratify prognosis for the stage IB patients in our cohort. The presence of GGO components had a notable impact on a favorable prognosis in stage IB NSCLCs.