Abstract
A retrospective review was performed to evaluate the extent of mediastinal node metastasis and prognosis in resected non-small cell lung cancer patients showing metastasis only to ND2 region (n1 (-) n2 (+) patients) (n=80). Patients with single-station metastases had a significantly better survival rate than those with more than three station metastases. And there was no significant difference between cases with single-station metastases and n1 cases. This finding suggests that single mediastinal station metastases may be metastases to the sentinel lymph node. When we divided n1 (-) n2 (+) patients into two groups (group (1): cases whose primary tumor was located in the upper or middle lobe and LN metastases were seen at upper mediastinum only and cases whose primary tumor was located in the lower lobe and LN metastases were seen at lower mediastinum only; group (2): cases whose primary tumor was located in the upper or middle lobe and LN metastases were seen at lower mediastinum only and cases whose primary tumor was located in the lower lobe and LN metastases were seen at upper mediastinum only.), group (2) had a significantly worse survival rate. Group (2) cases are a high risk group for limited mediastinal lymphadenectomy.
