Long-term survival outcomes of video-assisted thoracic surgery for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been shown to be a safe alternative to conventional thoracotomy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, popularization of this relatively novel technique has been slow, partly due to concerns about its long-term outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate the long-term survival outcomes of patients with NSCLC after VATS, and to determine the significant prognostic factors on overall survival. METHODS Consecutive patients diagnosed with NSCLC referred to one institution for VATS were identified from a central database. Patients were treated by either complete-VATS or assisted-VATS, as described in previous studies. A number of baseline patient characteristics, clinicopathologic data and treatment-related factors were analyzed as potential prognostic factors on overall survival. RESULTS Between January 2000 and December 2007, 1,139 patients with NSCLC who underwent VATS and fulfilled a set of predetermined inclusion criteria were included for analysis. The median age of the entire group was 60 years, with 791 male patients (69%). The median 5-year overall survival for Stage I, II, III and IV disease according to the recently updated TNM classification system were 72.2%, 47.5%, 29.8% and 28.6%, respectively. Female gender, TNM stage, pT status, and type of resection were found to be significant prognostic factors on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS VATS offers a viable alternative to conventional open thoracotomy for selected patients with clinically resectable NSCLC.