Bronchial resection margin and long-term survival in non-small-cell lung cancer

Clear resection margins are necessary for long-term survival of patients undergoing surgical resection. We aimed to determine whether bronchial resection margin is a factor determining long-term survival in patients undergoing R0 resections for non-small-cell lung cancer. There were 2695 consecutive pulmonary resections performed between October 2001 and September 2011 in our institution; 1795 were R0 resections for non-small-cell lung cancer and bronchial margin length data were available. Benchmarking against the 7th International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer dataset was performed. Cox multivariate and neuronal network analysis was undertaken. Benchmarking failed to reveal any significant differences between our data and the 7th International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer dataset. Cox regression demonstrated that age (p < 0.001), sex (p < 0.0001), body mass index (p = 0.002), T1 stage (p = 0.0002), T3 stage (p < 0.0001), N1 stage (p < 0.001), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (p < 0.0001), squamous histology (p = 0.009), mixed adenosquamous histology (p = 0.008), and pneumonectomy (p = 0.01) were all significant determinants of long-term survival, but bronchial resection margin was not. Neuronal network analysis confirmed these findings. Bronchial resection margin length has no impact on long-term survival.