Surgical outcomes of early-stage small-cell lung cancer: single-center experience.

Background: Small-cell lung cancer is a highly aggressive and metastatic epithelial lung malignancy. A small percentage of these tumors can be detected at an early stage and may be appropriate for surgical treatment. We analyzed the data of patients with early-stage small-cell lung cancer who underwent lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection.

Methods: Between January 2011 and December 2016, 26 patients with early-stage small-cell lung cancer underwent lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection and were included the study. The mean age was 60.9 years and 18 (69.2%) were male. Patients with increased uptake of F-fludeoxyglucose in mediastinal or distant organs on positron-emission tomography computed tomography, or lung resections other than lobectomy, were not included in the study.

Results: The most common tumor location was the right upper lobe. The diagnoses were achieved by intraoperative frozen section study in almost all patients (92.3%). Mean overall survival was 58.5 ± 6.7 months (range 45-71 months) and the 5-year survival rate was 53%. We found that a statistically significant correlation between lymph node metastasis in N1 or N2 stations and survival. There was also a significant relationship between N2 nodal metastasis and recurrence.

Conclusion: As stated in the current guidelines, lung lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node resection should be considered in early-stage small-cell lung cancers. Survival outcomes of surgery for early-stage small-cell lung cancer are similar to the results in non-small-cell lung cancer.