Development and validation of prognostic nomogram for T_1-3N₀M₀ non-small cell lung cancer after curative resection

Radical resection plus lymph node dissection is a common treatment for patients with T_1-3N₀M₀ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Few models predicted the survival outcomes of these patients. This study aimed to developed a nomogram for predicting their overall survival (OS).

This study involved 3002 patients with T_1-3N₀M₀ NSCLC after curative resection between January 1999 and October 2013. 1525 Patients from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center were randomly allocated to training cohort and internal validation cohort in a ratio of 7:3. 1477 patients from ten institutions were recruited as external validation cohort. A nomogram was constructed based on the training cohort and validated by internal and external validation cohort to predict the OS of these patients. The accuracy and practicability were tested by Harrell's C-indexes, calibration plots and decision curve analyses (DCA).

Age, sex, histological classification, pathological T stage, and HI standard were independent factors for OS and were included in our nomogram. The C-index of the nomogram for OS estimates were 0.671 (95% CI, 0.637-0.705),0.632 (95% CI, 0.581-0.683), and 0.645 (95% CI, 0.617-0.673) in the training cohorts, internal validation cohorts, and external validation cohort, respectively. The calibration plots and DCA for predictions of OS were in excellent agreement. An online version of the nomogram was built for convenient clinical practice.

Our nomogram can predict the OS of patients with T_1-3N₀M₀ NSCLC after curative resection. The online version of our nomogram offer opportunities for fast personalized risk stratification and prognosis prediction in clinical practice.