• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.610-614
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• 2009

Background: Several trials have reported on whether adjuvant chemotherapy for resected stage IB non-small cell lung cancer is needed. The aim of our study was to investigate prognostic factors for recurrence to help identify patients who should receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Material and Method: We reviewed the cases of 48 stage IB non-small cell lung cancer patients between 1997 and 2006. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was performed with the log rank test and multivariate analysis was done using Cox's proportional hazard model. Result: The median follow-up time was 48 months. The overall survival rate was 55.9%, and the disease-free survival rate was 48.6%. Of 8 variables, two factors, visceral pleural invasion and Iymphovascular invasion, were prognostic factors of disease-free survival (univariate analysis). Visceral pleural invasion was a significant prognostic factor in multivariate analysis, and overall survival in com-pared one or more variable such as visceral pleural invasion or, and lymphovascular invasion with the other variables. Conclusion: Visceral pleural invasion was identified as a poor prognostic factor and it may help select which patients will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to more comprehensive follow-up.