Development and validation of a predictive model for lymph node metastases in peripheral non-small cell lung cancer with a tumor diameter ≤ 2.0 cm and a consolidation-to-tumor ratio > 0.5.

Background: Precisely predicting lymph node metastasis (LNM) status is critical for the treatment of early non-small5-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we developed a LNM prediction tool for peripheral NSCLC with a tumor diameter ≤ 2.0 cm and consolidation-to-tumor ratio (CTR) > 0.