Pathologic Lymph Node Staging Practice and Stage-Predicted Survival After Resection of Lung Cancer

Suboptimal lymph node staging was prevalent in this cohort. Large proportions of pN1 and pN0 patients were probably understaged. For patients with positive pulmonary/hilar lymph nodes, failure to examine mediastinal lymph nodes was associated with poorer survival. Interventions are needed to improve lymph node staging of NSCLC.