Prognostic factors in prediction of survival in T3 stage non-small cell lung tumors

Lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality among cancer related deaths. Our aim in this study is to investigate the factors affecting survival and prognosis in patients with T3 stage non-small cell lung cancer, as well as their relationship with each other. 129 cases with T3 tumors who were admitted to our clinic for surgery between the years of 1997 – 2013, were evaluated retrospectively for age, sex, type of the resection, histopathological classification of tumor, type of T3, lymph node infiltration, chemo-/radiotherapy and recurrence. Kaplan – Meier Survival Analysis and Cox Multiple Regression Analysis were used for statistical survival measures. Statistical significance calculations were done by using Log-Rank Test and Breslow (generalized Wilcoxon) Test. According to our results; the overall 2 and 5 year survival rates of all patients were 58.5% and 30.9%, respectively. When all cases were evaluated for stage; the patients with stage IIB disease had a median survival of 49 months, while stage IIIA disease group had a median survival of 34 months (P = 0.201). The patients who underwent lobectomy had better median survival compared to pneumonectomy group with 49 months and 32 months, respectively. In terms of lymph node involvement; N1 disease was related to poor prognosis 1.2 times (P =0.561), and N2 disease 1.5 times compared to N0 group (P=0.146). Patients who have been on chemotherapy had a better median survival with 43 months compared to 41 months of the patients who didnot have any other treatment other than surgery. It was well observed in our study that the parameters of age, sex, histopathological class of tumor alone did not have any predictive value in survival analysis. As a conclusion; stage of the disease and stage related factors such as lymph node involvement along with other treatments performed other than surgery have a value of bad prognosis in evaluation of survival and prognosis in patients with T3 non-small cell lung cancer. The other demographic and clinical parameters can only give significant results when analyzed together with other characteristics of the patient. Keywords: T3 NSCLC, Prognostis factors, Survival