Survival with Parenchymal and Pleural Invasion of Non–Small Cell Lung Cancers Less than 30 mm

Abstract Objective To determine long-term survival of visceral pleural invasion (VPI) and parenchymal invasion (PAI) (angiolymphatic and/or vascular) on survival of NSCLCs less than 30 mm in maximum diameter. Methods Kaplan-Meier survivals for NSCLCs, with and without VPI and/or PAI, were determined for a prospective cohort of screening participants stratified by pathologic tumor size (≤10 mm, 11–20 mm, and 21–30 mm) and nodule consistency. Log-rank test statistics were calculated. Results The frequency of PAI versus VPI was significantly lower in patients with subsolid nodules than in those with solid nodules (4.9% versus 27.7% [ p p  = 0.0009]). Multivariable Cox regression found that only tumor diameter (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] =1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.14, p  = 0.02) and PAI (adjusted HR = 3.15, 95% CI: 1.25–7.90, p  = 0.01) remained significant, whereas VPI was not significant ( p  = 0.15). When clinical and computed tomography findings were included with the pathologic findings, Cox regression showed that the risk of dying of lung cancer increased 10-fold (HR = 10.06, 95% CI: 1.35–75.30) for NSCLCs in patients with solid nodules and more than twofold (by a factor of 2.27) in patients with moderate to severe emphysema (HR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.01–5.11), as well as with increasing tumor diameter (HR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.01–1.13), whereas PAI was no longer significant ( p  = 0.19). Conclusions Nodule consistency on computed tomography was a more significant prognostic indicator than either PAI or VPI. We propose that patients with NSCLC with VPI and a maximum tumor diameter of 30 mm or less not be upstaged to T2 without further large, multicenter studies of NSCLCs, stratified by the new T status and that classification be considered separately for patients with subsolid or solid nodules.