• Nobutaka Kawamoto, Takahiro Mimae, Yasuhiro Tsutani, Atsushi Kamigaichi, Norifumi Tsubokawa, Yoshihiro Miyata, and Morihito Okada.
• Department of Surgical Oncology, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2024 Feb 1; 167 (2): 488497.e2488-497.e2.

ObjectivePulmonary lymphatic drainage of the lower lobe into the mediastinal lymph nodes includes not only the pathway via the hilar lymph nodes but also the pathway directly into the mediastinum via the pulmonary ligament. This study aimed to determine the association between the distance from the mediastinum to the tumor and the frequency of occult mediastinal nodal metastasis (OMNM) in patients with clinical stage I lower-lobe non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsBetween April 2007 and March 2022, data of patients who underwent anatomical pulmonary resection and mediastinal lymph node dissection for clinical stage I radiological pure-solid lower-lobe NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. In computed tomography axial sections, the ratio of the distance from the inner edge of the lung to the inner margin of the tumor within the lung width of the affected lung was defined as the inner margin ratio. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on whether the inner margin ratio was ≤0.50 (inner-type) or >0.50 (outer-type), and the association between inner margin ratio status and clinicopathological findings was assessed.ResultsIn total, 200 patients were enrolled in the study. OMNM frequency was 8.5%. More inner-type than outer-type patients had OMNM (13.2% vs 3.2%; P = .012) and skip N2 metastasis (7.5% vs 1.1%; P = .038). Multivariable analysis revealed that the inner margin ratio was the only independent preoperative predictor of OMNM (odds ratio, 4.72; 95% CI, 1.31-17.07; P = .018).ConclusionsTumor distance from the mediastinum was the most important preoperative predictor of OMNM in patients with lower-lobe NSCLC.Copyright © 2023 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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