Predicting the recurrence risk factors and clinical outcomes of peripheral pulmonary adenocarcinoma ≤3 cm with wedge resection

Purpose This study was designed to investigate the risk factors of recurrence and survival of clinical stage I lung adenocarcinoma underwent wedge resection by the use of Shanghai Chest Hospital Lung Cancer Database. Patients and methods A total of 746 patients with clinical stage I adenocarcinoma underwent wedge resection from 2010 to 2015 in our database were included in this study. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression were performed successively to select significant risk factors and then nomograms as well as the concordance indexes for RFS, OS and LCSS were developed, respectively. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were performed if necessary, with the identification of log-rank test. Results The 5-year RFS, OS and LCSS of clinical stage I adenocarcinoma underwent wedge resection were 86.1, 83.6 and 85.2%, respectively. There were three independent risk factors related with RFS (sex, pathology, pleural invasion), two related with OS (sex, volume ratio) and two with LCSS (sex, volume ratio) with the analysis of Cox regression and were selected to develop nomograms. The C-indexes of RFS, OS and LCSS were 0.767 (95% CI 0.667–0.867), 0.782 (95% CI 0.660–0.904) and 0.794 (95% CI 0.669–0.919), respectively. Lymphadenectomy did not show differences statistically but had tendencies of better RFS, OS and LCSS among the subgroup of invasive adenocarcinoma. Conclusion Sex, pathology and pleural invasion could be recommended as criteria for clinical stage I adenocarcinoma undergoing wedge resection. And the larger the wedge volume and/or the smaller the tumor volume was, the better OS and LCSS were. If the volume ratio reached 10:1 or more, the survival rate was approximately 90% for both OS and LCSS. Whether lymphadenectomy was necessary for WR, especially in invasive adenocarcinoma, needed further research.