Survival related to nodal status after sleeve resection for lung cancer

Sleeve lobectomy is a lung-saving procedure indicated for central tumors for which the alternative is a pneumonectomy. The relation between survival and nodal status is controversial because, in most series, the presence of N1 disease adversely affects the prognosis with few or no long-term survivors. During the period 1972 to 1992, 142 patients underwent sleeve resection for lung cancer at our institution. Mean age (+/- standard deviation) was 60.7 +/- 9.1 years (range 11 to 78 years), and indications for operation were a central tumor in 112 patients (79%), a peripheral tumor in 18 patients (13%), and compromised pulmonary function in 12 patients (8%). Histologic type was predominantly squamous (72.5%) followed by nonsquamous (24.6%) and carcinoid tumors (2.8%). Resection was complete in 124 patients (87%) and incomplete in 18 (13%), and the operative mortality was 2.1% (n = 3). Follow-up was complete for the 139 remaining patients. Including operative deaths, survivals at 5 and 10 years for all patients were 46% (95% confidence intervals 38% to 55%) and 33% (95% confidence intervals 24% to 42%), respectively. For patients with N0 status (n = 73), 5- and 10-year survivals were 57% (95% confidence intervals 45% to 69%) and 46% (95% confidence intervals 32% to 60%); for patients with N1 status (n = 55), these rates were 46% (95% confidence intervals 32% to 60%) and 27% (95% confidence intervals 14% to 40%) (p = 0.13). No patient with N2 status (n = 14) survived 5 years. Local recurrences occurred in 23% of cases, but the prevalence was not statistically different between patients with N0 disease (16.6%) and N1 disease (23.1%) (p = 0.43). These data suggest that sleeve resection is an adequate operation for patients with resectable lung cancer and N0 N1 status. The presence of N2 disease significantly worsens the prognosis and may contraindicate the use of the procedure.