Implications of Preoperative Transbronchial Lung Biopsy for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Less than 3-cm.

BACKGROUND/AIM Transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) has been recommended for patients with suspected lung cancer. However, its diagnostic value is limited to small lesions, and some studies have indicated that biopsy might be related to metastasis and/or dissemination. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes after preoperative TBLB for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Data were reviewed from 371 patients with resected pN0 NSCLC less than 3-cm. Patients were divided into two groups: TBLB and Non-TBLB. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the hazard ratio (HR) with the endpoint RFS. RESULTS The 5-year RFS rates were 75.5% in the TBLB group and 91.4% in the Non-TBLB group (p<0.001). Poor RFS was independently associated with TBLB (HR=2.491, 95%CI=1.337-4.640; p=0.004). CONCLUSION Preoperative TBLB may adversely affect RFS among NSCLC patients with small size tumours.