Retrospective cohort study of segmentectomy with or without preoperative biopsy for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

There is no consensus on the necessity of preoperative biopsy prior to resection of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A retrospective cohort study using the National Cancer Database (2010-2019) compared outcomes after segmentectomy with (n=2287) versus without (n=4604) preoperative biopsy for clinical stage I (N0 M0, tumor size ≤ 2cm) NSCLC. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to adjust for confounders between the groups. After PSM, there were no significant differences between the groups in 30-day readmission (p=0.13), 30-day survival (p=0.26), 90-day survival (p=0.31) and 5-year survival (p=0.20). The authors conclude that segmentectomy without preoperative biopsy is a safe option for patients with early-stage, ≤ 2 cm NSCLC.