Published in:
01-01-2022 | Computed Tomography | Original Article
Lymph node metastasis and predictive factors in clinical stage IA squamous cell carcinoma of the lung based on radiological findings
Published in: General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | Issue 1/2022
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Objectives
We aimed to clarify the incidence of lymph node (LN) metastasis and its predictive factors in clinical stage IA squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) based on radiological classification to provide surgical indications for segmentectomy.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed 192 patients with clinical stage IA SqCC who underwent complete resection with lobectomy and LN dissection at our institution between 2003 and 2019. To evaluate the incidence of LN metastasis from the perspective of indications for segmentectomy, we classified them into outer and inner groups based on the location of the tumor in the radiological findings.
Results
Regarding tumor location, 123 patients had tumors in the outer location and 69 patients had tumors in the inner location. The incidence of LN metastasis was 6% in clinical stage IA SqCC, which included 6% in the outer location and 7% in the inner location (p = 0.669). In the outer location, all LN metastases were in N1 (6%); whereas in the inner location, the incidence of N1 and N2 metastasis were 6% and 1%, respectively. Only tumors sized > 2.0 cm were found to be significantly associated with LN metastasis in clinical stage IA SqCC.
Conclusions
We demonstrated that the incidence of LN metastasis in clinical stage IA SqCC was comparable to that of the previously reported clinical stage IA NSCLC. The incidence of LN metastasis in the outer location was similar to that in the inner location. Tumor size was only a significant factor affecting LN metastasis in clinical stage IA SqCC.