Objective: To identify clinical and pathologic factors that were associated with the survival of stage IB upper lobe non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Methods: A retrospective study of 147 subjects who had undergone curative resection for stage IB upper lobe NSCLC was performed. Patients who had received any adjuvant or neo-adjuvant chemotherapy were excluded. Survival function curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier procedure. Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of potential prognostic factors were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: Five factors, including age, tumor size, histologic grade of differentiation, number of removed superior mediastinal lymph node stations and presence of visceral pleura invasion, were significantly and independently associated with mortality risk. Adjusted HRs were 2.6 [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.1-6.5] and 4.6 (95% CI: 1.9-11) for those aged 58-68 years and those >68 years, respectively, relative to those aged <58 years. HRs for those with poorly and moderately differentiated tumors were 6.4 (95% CI: 2.3-18) and 1.4 (95% CI: 0.7-2.8), respectively. HRs for those with tumor size 3.1-5 cm and >5 cm (vs≤3.0 cm) were 2.3 (95% CI: 1.1-4.9) and 4.3 (95% CI: 1.9-10), respectively. The presence of visceral pleura invasion also increased the risk of mortality (HR=4.0, 95% CI: 1.3-12).

Conclusion: Advanced age, larger tumor size, poorly differentiated histology, smaller number of removed superior mediastinal lymph node stations, and presence of visceral pleura invasion were associated with poor survival of surgically treated stage IB upper lobe NSCLC patients.