Propensity-matched Comparison of VATS Left Upper Tri-segmentectomy and Lobectomy.

ABSTRACT Background This study aims to investigate the oncological outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) left upper tri-segmentectomy (LTS) versus left upper lobectomy (LUL) for patients presenting with stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A retrospective analysis identified 1543 consecutive patients presenting to Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital with NSCLC for VATS-LTS or LUL from 2013-2017. After propensity-score matching for patient demographics and tumor characteristics, 273 pairs were identified. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the Log-rank test. Results The median follow-up time was 51.5 months. There were no significant differences in operative duration (2.11±0.64 versus 2.49±5.96 h, p=0.30), total blood loss (106.19±170.83 versus 97.07±149.34 mL, p=0.51) and operation complications (10% versus 8%, p=0.37) between LUL and LTS. Patients undergoing LUL had longer postoperative hospital stay (5.55±3.00 versus 4.87±2.33 days, p=0.003), greater tumor margin distance (3.3±1.2 versus 3.1±0.9 cm, p＜.001) and greater number of lymph nodes harvested (8.0±3.2 versus 6.8±3.3, p＜.001) than LTS, but the margin/tumor ratio was not statistically different (2.5±1.6 versus 2.3±1.1, p=0.11). Median DFS (49.5 versus 54.3 months, p=0.77) and OS (49.5 versus 55.0 months, p=0.88) were not significantly different between patients undergoing LTS and LUL, and similar outcomes were noted across subgroups of patients stratified by tumor stages, pathological type, and radiographic manifestations. Conclusions VATS-LTS and LUL had comparable oncological outcomes for stage I NSCLC, regardless of tumor pathological types and radiological findings, as long as negative margins were confirmed.