Kimura H, et al. - A link between lung cancer and pulmonary cavity has been observed by a few investigators. This study intended to shed light on the clinical features and associated survival outcomes following curative surgery in patients with early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) adjoining pulmonary cavity formation. Findings indicated that surgical resection afforded an increased risk of poor overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in patients with early-stage NSCLC adjoining pulmonary cavity formation.

Methods

• A retrospective review was performed in 275 patients with pathological stage I NSCLC by re-evaluating their chest computed tomography images.
• Among them, researchers detected NSCLC adjoining pulmonary cavity formation in 12 (4.4%) patients.

Results

• 43.2 (range, 6.0–86.0) months was the median follow-up period for all 275 patients.
• Data reported that among these patients, 6 (50.0%) in group CF (patients with NSCLC adjoining pulmonary cavity formation) and 19 (7.2%) in group C (the control group, n=263) died during the study period.
• Recurrence of the primary lung cancer was seen in 6 (50.0%) and 32 (12.2%) patients in groups CF and C, respectively.
• At 5 years, in groups CF and C, cumulative overall survival (OS) was 37.0% and 91.7%, respectively (P<0.0001) and, recurrence-free survival (RFS) was 55.0% and 86.7%, respectively (P=0.001).
• An association of male sex, smoking habits, non-adenocarcinoma, and presence of pulmonary cavity formation with poor OS (P=0.008, P=0.001, P<0.0001, and P<0.0001, respectively) was revealed in univariate analysis.
• Additionally, it was evident in multivariate analysis that smoking, non-adenocarcinoma, and pulmonary cavity formation were independent prognostic factors predicting poor survival (P=0.043, P=0.004 and P<0.0001, respectively).