Methods: Between 1998 and 2007, the results of surgery in 302 patients with right upper lobe NSCLC were investigated retrospectively. One-hundred-sixty-nine patients with completely resected pT2 o r p T3 tumor without lymph node metastasis were analyzed. The patients were divided into three groups; patients with NSCLC staged as pT2 (n=82), pT3 with invasion of the main bronchus (pT3-MB; n=41), and pT3 patients without main bronchial involvement (n=46).

Results: The five-year survival rate of patients with pT3-MB was 36.7%, whereas it was 55.1% for patients with pT2 and 50.7% for patients with other pT3 tumor (p=0.28). Survival of the patients who had undergone pneumonectomy was poorer than that of others (p<0.01). The hilar or interlobar N1 was found to be predictive for poor prognosis (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The survival of patients with resected right upper lobe NSCLC with pT3-MB is poor. Our study confirmed that extralobar N1 is frequently seen and it worsens the prognosis. This coexistence could be the another reason of poor prognosis in patients with main bronchus invaded T3 tumor.