Background: This study aims to identify prognostic factors in operated patients with non-small cell lung cancer staged as T3N0M0 according to the 8th edition of the Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging system.

Methods: Between January 2010 and June 2023, a total of 79 patients (67 males, 12 females; mean age: 62.9±8.7; range, 40 to 80 years) who underwent surgery for non-small cell lung cancer and were pathologically staged as T3N0M0 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups: the first group included 56 patients with a single T3 factor, while the second group included 23 patients with multiple T3 factors. Survival analysis was performed.

Results: The five-year overall survival rate for the first group was 79.0%, with a mean overall survival of 107.76±8.44 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 91.21-124.32), while the second group had a five-year overall survival rate of 48.9%, with a mean overall survival of 69.19±12.60 months (95% CI: 44.48-93.91). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.02). In the multivariate analysis, multiple T3 factors (p=0.003) and the presence of comorbidity (p=0.004) were found to be independent poor prognostic factors.

Conclusion: Our study results suggest that having multiple T factors significantly and adversely affect survival of patients with surgically treated pT3 non-small cell lung cancer.

Keywords : Non-small cell lung cancer, T3, TNM staging, overall survival