Background: Lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI) exerts an important process in the progression and local spread of cancer cells. However, LVI as a prognostic factor for survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains controversial.

Methodology/principal findings: A meta-analysis of published studies from PubMed and EMBASE electronic databases was performed to quantity the effects of LVI on both relapse-free survival and overall survival for patients with NSCLC. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to assess the strength of these effects. This meta-analysis included 18,442 NSCLC patients from 53 eligible studies. LVI appeared in 32.1% (median; range, 2.8% to 70.9%) of tumor samples. In all, patients with LVI were 2.48 times more likely to relapse by univariate analysis (95% CI: 1.92-3.22) and 1.73 times by multivariate analysis (95% CI: 1.24-2.41) compared with those without LVI. For the analyses of LVI and overall survival, the pooled HR estimate was 1.97 (95% CI: 1.75-2.21) by univariate analysis and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.41-1.79) by multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed a risk was 91% higher for recurrence (HR =1.91, 95% CI: 1.14-2.91) and 70% higher for mortality (HR=1.70, 95% CI: 1.38-2.10) in LVI-positive I stage patients compared with LVI-negative I stage patients. Subgroup analyses showed similar significant adjusted risks for recurrence and death in adenocarcinomas, and a significant adjusted risk for death in studies that utilized elastic staining with or without immunohistochemistry in defining LVI.

Conclusions/significance: The present study indicates that LVI appears to be an independent poor prognosticator in surgically managed NSCLC. NSCLC patients with LVI would require a more aggressive treatment strategy after surgery. However, large, well-designed prospective studies with clinically relevant modeling and standard methodology to assess LVI are required to address some of these important issues.