Background: Despite the associations of both preoperative sarcopenia and physical performance with post‐operative mortality in non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there have been no comprehensive studies of the impact of physical status on prognosis. This study was performed to investigate the prognostic significance of preoperative sarcopenia and physical performance in NSCLC. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed in NSCLS patients undergoing curative lung resection at a university hospital between January 2014 and December 2017. The patients were divided into four groups according to the skeletal muscle index [sarcopenia (lowest sex‐specific tertile) and non‐sarcopenia] and 6 min walking distance (6MWD) [short distance (<400 m) and long distance (≥400 m)]. Sarcopenia was assessed by preoperative cross‐sectional areas of right and left paraspinous muscles at the level of the 12th thoracic vertebra from computed tomography images, and physical performance was determined by preoperative 6MWD. The primary and secondary endpoints were post‐operative overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS). Results: The 587 patients [mean age: 68.5 ± 8.8 years, 399 men (68%)] included in the study were divided into the non‐sarcopenia/long‐distance group (58%), sarcopenia/long‐distance group (26%), non‐sarcopenia/short‐distance group (9%), and sarcopenia/short‐distance group (7%). A total of 109 (18.6%) deaths and 209 (35.6%) combined endpoints were observed over a mean follow‐up of 3.1 ± 1.3 years. After adjusting for other covariates, the sarcopenia/short‐distance group showed significant associations with shorter OS (hazard ratio, 3.38; 95% confidence interval, 1.79–6.37; P < 0.001) and DFS (hazard ratio, 2.11; 95% confidence, 1.27–3.51; P = 0.004) compared with the non‐sarcopenia/long‐distance group on multivariate analyses. Although not significant, adding skeletal muscle index and 6MWD to the pre‐existing risk model increased the area under the curve on time‐dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for OS and DFS, except within 2 years of surgery. Conclusions: The presence of both preoperative paraspinous muscle sarcopenia and short distance in 6MWD had an adverse effect on post‐operative prognosis in patients with NSCLC, suggesting that preoperative assessment of thoracic sarcopenia and physical performance may be useful for risk stratification of surgical candidates with potential for targeted interventions.

OBJECTIVES: The diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DL_CO) is an indicator of lung damage. We sought to determine whether DL_CO is associated with the aggressiveness of lung adenocarcinoma using histopathological indexes, such as tumour differentiation, scar grade, nuclear atypia and the mitotic index. METHODS: Fifty-seven patients with low DL_CO (≤80% of predicted) and 466 patients with normal DL_CO (>80% of predicted) who underwent R0 resection of lung adenocarcinoma between 2005 and 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. The relationships between the DL_CO status and each histopathological index as well as the overall survival were evaluated. RESULTS: Low DL_CO had significant relationships with moderate/poor differentiation (79% vs 57% [low DL_CO vs normal DL_CO]), scar grade 3/4 (37% vs 18%), nuclear atypia 3 (65% vs 30%) and the mitotic index 3 (26% vs 8%). After adjusting for the age, sex, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, smoking status and tumour size, a low DL_CO still showed a significant correlation with the histopathological indexes. These histopathological indexes were all significant factors for the overall survival on log-rank tests. In a multivariable Cox regression analysis with 13 clinicopathological variables, moderate/poor differentiation and nuclear atypia Grade 3 were significant histopathological factors for the overall survival (hazard ratios: 2.16 and 1.84; 95% confidence intervals: 1.10–4.51 and 1.06-3.21; P = 0.024 and 0.029, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings regarding the relationship between DL_CO and the histopathological indexes of lung adenocarcinoma suggest that lung damage may be associated with carcinogenesis and progression.

We sought to determine the short- and long-term prognoses among ‘marginal-risk’ non-small cell lung cancer patients who have a predicted postoperative- (ppo) forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) of 30–60% and/or a ppo-diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) of 30–60%. The present study included 73 ‘marginal-risk’ and 318 ‘normal-risk’ patients who underwent anatomical resection for clinical stage I lung cancer between 2008 and 2012. The rates of postoperative morbidity, prolonged hospital stay, and overall survival were assessed. Postoperative morbidity occurred in 35 (48%) ‘marginal-risk’ patients and 66 (21%) ‘normal-risk’ patients, and 17 (23%) ‘marginal-risk’ patients and 20 (6%) ‘normal-risk’ patients required a prolonged hospital stay. The three- and five-year survival rates were 79% and 64% in the ‘marginal-risk’ patients and 93% and 87% in the ‘normal-risk’ patients, respectively. A ‘marginal-risk’ status was a significant factor in the prediction of postoperative morbidity (odds ratio [OR] 2.97, p < 0.001), the rate of prolonged hospital stay (OR 3.83, p < 0.001), and overall survival (hazard ratio 2.07, p = 0.028). In conclusion, ‘Marginal-risk’ patients, who are assessed based on ppo-values, comprise a subgroup of patients with poorer short- and long-term postoperative outcomes.