Wedge resection verses lobectomy for stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer

Lobectomy remains the gold standard with regard to potentially curative resection of non-small-cell lung carcinoma. We aimed to investigate whether there is a survival difference in stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer patients who undergo lobectomy compared to a wedge resection.

We retrospectively analyzed a prospective database of 1283 patients who had potentially curative resection for stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer. Only patients with adenocarcinoma, squamous or adenosquamous carcinoma were included. We benchmarked our 5-year survival against the 6th International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer results. Three techniques were used to assess the effect of a lobectomy compared to a wedge resection with regard to long-term survival: Cox multivariate regression analysis, neuronal network analysis, and propensity matching.

Benchmarking failed to reveal any significant difference compared to the 6th International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer results. Crude analysis demonstrated superiority of lobectomy compared to wedge resection, p = 0.02. Cox regression analysis confirmed that age, body mass index, female sex, being a current smoker, tumor diameter, and preoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s were all significant factors determining long-term survival. Wedge resection was not a significant factor. Neuronal network analysis concurred with the Cox regression analysis. Propensity matching with 1:1 matching demonstrated that wedge resections was not inferior to a lobectomy, p = 0.10.

Cox regression analysis, neuronal network analysis, and propensity matching in stage 1 non-small-cell lung cancer demonstrate no difference in long-term survival after wedge resection compared to lobectomy.