Therapeutic strategy for small-sized lung cancer

Minimizing the volume of lung resection without diminishing curability has recently become an important issue in primary lung cancer. In this review, we will discuss the current state of the feasibility of sublobar resection and specific issues for a segmentectomy procedure. A previous randomized controlled trial showed that lobectomy must still be considered the standard surgical procedure compared with sublobar resection for T1N0 non-small cell lung cancer with a tumor less than 3 cm in size. Since then, supporting studies for segmentectomy of lung cancer with a tumor less than 2 cm in size were reported. In addition, segmentectomy seems to be feasible for clinical stage I adenocarcinoma less than 2 cm in size, in women younger than 70 years old, with a low tumor 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) standardized uptake value (SUV) from propensity-matching studies. In a meta-analysis of sublobar resection vs. lobectomy, intentionally performed sublobar resection showed equivalent outcomes to lobectomy. In the near future, two ongoing prospective, randomized trials will report results. As specific issues for the surgical procedure of segmentectomy, achieving a sufficient surgical margin is an important issue for preventing loco-regional recurrence. More studies regarding the regional lymph node dissection area for segmentectomy are needed. Sublobar resection has the potential to become the standard procedure for peripheral small-sized lung cancer less than 2 cm. However, more information is needed about the characteristics of this cancer and the surgical procedure, including nodal dissection.