Tumour spread through air spaces is a determiner for treatment of clinical stage I non-small cell lung Cancer: Thoracoscopic segmentectomy vs lobectomy

The choice of surgical procedure for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumour spread through air spaces (STAS) remain debated. This study aimed to analyse the prognostic influence of STAS on thoracoscopic segmentectomy compared to lobectomy for clinical stage I NSCLC. This retrospective study included prospectively collected data of consecutive patients who underwent thoracoscopic segmentectomy or lobectomy for clinical stage I NSCLC from September 2020 to September 2023 at a high-volume hospital. We assessed overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) using Kaplan-Meier estimator with log-rank test. LASSO-Cox and Cox regression analyses identified independent factors for survivals of STAS presence. Among the 785 patients in the study, 151 (19.2 %) had STAS-positive NSCLC. No significant difference was observed in OS and RFS between patients with the presence and absence of STAS, nor between those undergoing thoracoscopic segmentectomy and lobectomy for NSCLC in the absence of STAS. Whereas worse survivals were found in segmentectomy for patients with STAS when compared to lobectomy (3-year OS: 58.4 % vs 89.0 %, P < 0.001; 3-year RFS: 69.8 % vs 82.7 %, P < 0.001). On multivariable analysis, segmentectomy (vs. lobectomy) and increased maximum standardized uptake value in positron emission tomography were independent prognostic factors of OS (hazard ratio [HR] 5.81, P = 0.010; HR 1.12, P = 0.022) and RFS (HR 5.78, P = 0.004; HR 1.10, P = 0.025) among patients with STAS. In this study, segmentectomy for clinical stage I NSCLC with STAS had inferior RFS and OS when compared to lobectomy.