OBJECTIVESThe staging and treatment of multi-focal non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are controversial. This study evaluated the effectiveness of surgical treatment for the ipsilateral multi-focal NSCLC.

METHODSSixty-eight patients with multi-focal NSCLC underwent complete resection from December 1999 to December 2006. This series included 44 males and 24 females, with a mean age of 60.3 years old (range from 33 to 81 years old). Fifty-four patients had multiple nodules in primary lobe (T4) and 13 patients had additional nodules in non-primary lobe (M1), and a patient was proved to have synchronous primary NSCLC lesions. Surgical treatments included lobectomy in 53 cases, bilobectomy in 4 cases, pneumonectomy in 2 cases, and lobectomy combined with wedge resection in 9 cases.

RESULTSThe median overall survival time of this series was 30 months. Prognostic study demonstrated that mediastinal lymph node metastasis and bronchioloalveolar carcinoma histology had significant impact on overall survival. The median survival times were 39 months for patients with N0 and N1, and 14 months for patients with N2, respectively, and there was significant difference between the groups (P < 0.01). The difference in survival was significant between patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma components and other NSCLC histologic types (P < 0.01), and the median survival times were 46 months and 20 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSurgery could provide choice for multi-focal NSCLC patients (T4 and M1), especially for patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma components and without mediastinal lymph node metastasis.