Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31764992›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery2020

The association of nodal upstaging with surgical approach and its impact on long-term survival after resection of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Mark W Hennon, Luke H DeGraaff, Adrienne Groman, Todd L Demmy, Sai Yendamuri

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.9field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Review
  4. Current state of evidence for RATS lobectomy for NSCLC.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2026
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  20. Comment on "The Unbearable Lightness of Difference Between Statistical and Clinical Significance".Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Mark W HennonDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Luke H DeGraaffDepartment of Surgery, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Adrienne GromanDepartment of Biostatistics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Todd L DemmyDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Sai YendamuriDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center · USUniversity at Buffalo, State University of New York · US

Funding

Two-Spirit Films in Indigenous Cancer HealthP30CA016056 · NCI · ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE CORP · PI MARK G FRATTINI · 1985 to 2026
$116.6M
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA016056
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesProponents of open thoracotomy (OPEN) and robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) claim its oncological superiority over video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in terms of the accuracy of lymph node staging.

methodsThe National Cancer Database was queried for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing lobectomy without neoadjuvant therapy from 2010 to 2014. Nodal upstaging rates were compared using a surgical approach. Overall survival adjusted for confounding variables was examined using the Cox proportional hazards model.

resultsA total of 64 676 patients fulfilled the selection criteria. The number of patients who underwent lobectomy by RATS, VATS and OPEN approaches was 5470 (8.5%), 17 545 (27.1%) and 41 661 (64.4%), respectively. The mean number of lymph nodes examined for each of these approaches was 10.9, 11.3 and 10 (P < 0.01) and upstaging rates were 11.2%, 11.7% and 12.6% (P < 0.01), respectively. For patients with clinical stage I disease (N = 46 826; RATS = 4338, VATS = 13 416 and OPEN = 29 072), the mean lymph nodes examined were 10.6, 10.8 and 9.4 (P < 0.01), and upstaging rates were 10.8%, 11.1% and 12.1% (P < 0.01), respectively. A multivariable analysis suggested an association with improved survival with RATS and VATS compared with OPEN surgery [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.89 and 0.89, respectively; P < 0.01] for patients with all stages. In stage I disease, VATS but not RATS was associated with increased overall survival compared with the OPEN approach (HR = 0.81; P < 0.01).

conclusionsRATS lobectomy is not superior to VATS lobectomy with respect to lymph node yield or upstaging of NSCLC. Increased nodal upstaging by the OPEN approach does not confer a survival advantage in any stage of NSCLC and may be associated with decreased overall survival.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungLung NeoplasmsHumansNeoplasm StagingPneumonectomyRetrospective StudiesThoracic Surgery, Video-AssistedThoracotomyTreatment OutcomeLung cancerMediastinal stagingVideo-assisted thoracic surgery

Identifiers

PMID31764992
PMCPMC7179045
OpenAlexW2990916070

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.