The relationship between the degree of visceral pleural invasion and survival in non-small cell lung cancer.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the degree of visceral pleural invasion (VPI) and survival in patients operated for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Between 2013 and 2015, 202 patients who were diagnosed with NSCLC in our center and followed up in our clinic were retrospectively evaluated. To examine the preoperative and postoperative prognostic factors of the patients, postoperative pathology results, demographic data and data on recurrence status were obtained from our hospital database and patient files.

Results: VPI Survival analysis was performed by dividing 3 groups: PL0, PL1 and PL2. Mean survival (MS) was calculated as 39.528±1.469 (36.655-42.402; 95% CI) months for PL0, 35.136±3.115 (29.031-41.240; 95% CI) months for PL1, and 24.688±3.697 (17.441-31.934; 95% CI) for PL2 (p=0.020). When we consider PL0 and PL1 as a single group and compare it with PL2, the MS time of the PL0-PL1 group was 38.358±1.346 (35.721-40.995; 95% CI) months, while the MS time of the PL2 group was 24.688±3.697 (17.441-31.934; 95% CI) months (p=0.020).

Conclusion: Although PL0, PL1 and PL2 were classified into a single group (all considered as T2), this study showed that the presence of PL2 was associated with a poor prognosis in terms of survival, independent of lymph node involvement, histopathological subtype of the tumor and tumor size.