Three-dimensional reconstruction for determining positional indications of pulmonary segmentectomy/subsegmentectomy for ground glass opacity-dominant clinical T1a-bN0 non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract

Background: The precision of segmentectomy/subsegmentectomy for ground glass opacity (GGO)-dominant cT1a-bN0 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including mono-segmentectomy, mono-subsegmentectomy, combined subsegmentectomies, and single segmentectomy with adjacent subsegmentectomy, has improved. The aim of this study is to investigate their positional indications by focusing on the three-dimensional location of lesions, utilizing three-dimensional computed tomography bronchography and angiography (3D-CTBA).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 195 patients with GGO-dominant cT1a-bN0 NSCLC who underwent segmentectomy/subsegmentectomy between August 2015 and November 2020. We included 173 patients: mono-segmentectomy (71, 41.04%), mono-subsegmentectomy (37, 21.39%), combined subsegmentectomies (42, 24.28%), and single segmentectomy with adjacent subsegmentectomy (23,13.29%). Patient demographics and perioperative outcomes were compared among groups to identify positional indications.

Results: Significant differences were observed among the four groups in terms of lobe location of the lesions and their relationships with adjacent intersegmental veins (P<0.001), but not in their diameter and depth (P=0.33; P=0.79). All groups showed similar surgical margins (P=0.77) despite differences in the number of subsegments resected (P<0.001). No perioperative deaths or postoperative recurrences were reported. For lesions located in the middle region, located inter-segmentally, or with a diameter >1 cm, a greater number of subsegments were resected (P=0.02; P<0.001; P=0.003), while the surgical margins were not inferior to those located in the outer region, located intra-segmentally, or with a diameter ≤1 cm (P=0.29; P=0.77; P=0.46).

Conclusions: It is the specific lobe in which lesions are located and their relationship with adjacent intersegmental veins that determine the specific surgical procedure of segmentectomy/subsegmentectomy for GGO-dominant cT1a-bN0 NSCLC, rather than their diameter and depth.