Prognostic significance of the lymph node involvement around the main bronchus in the therapy of non-small cell lung cancer

Introduction Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) N1 and N2 disease represent a heterogeneous group of patients with variable long term survival. Some studies showed prognostic differences between the intralobar and extralobar N1 disease. Therefore many authors designated metastases around the main bronchus as the intermediate group (group 7, 10, 11 R/L). The aim of our study was to investigate the tumor related, prognostic significance of nodal metastasis in the intermediate group when compared to single station N2 disease and/or to skipping metastasis. Patients and Methods From 1990 to 2007, a total of 850 patie…