OBJECTIVETo investigate the survival and prognostic factors in patients undergoing potentially curative resection of stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODSClinical data of eighty-nine patients, who underwent curative operation from January 2003 to April 2007 in the Peking University First Hospital and were pathologically diagnosed as stage IIIA-N2 NSCLC, were reviewed. The patients were followed up until death or the cut-off date. The overall 3-year and 5-year survival rates were calculated, and Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine the clinical and pathological risk factors and evaluate their influence on the survival.

RESULTSThe three-year and five-year survival rates were 51.7% and 31.5%, respectively. The univariate Cox regression analysis revealed five significant factors associated with prognosis: the arm of age < 55, T3 stage, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), multiple positive N2 station and the number of positive N2 nodes > 3 were found to be at increased risk of tumor-related death, and those risk factors were confirmed especially in the age ≥ 55 group. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated three independent prognostic factors: T3 stage, LVI and multiple positive N2 station.

CONCLUSIONSThe results of this preliminary study show that T3 stage, lymphovascular invasion and N2 level (single or multiple station) are associated with the prognosis of stage IIIA-N2 NSCLC patients after potentially curative resection, and the characteristics of age < 55 and the number of positive N2 nodes > 3 may imply worse prognosis.