Pleural lavage cytology immediately after thoracotomy in patients with completely resected non-small cell lung cancer.

This study evaluated 325 patients who had undergone pleural lavage cytology (PLC) immediately after thoracotomy following a complete resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 2004 and 2008. The number of patients with negative and positive findings in PLC was 309 and 13, respectively. The proportion of T1 in the PLC-positive group was significantly smaller than that of the PLC-negative group. The pathologic examinations revealed that the parietal pleural invasion was significantly more severe in the PLC-positive group than in the PLC-negative group. Pathologic lymphovascular invasion was also significantly more prominent in the PLC-positive group than in the PLC-negative group. The 5-year survival rate after surgery in the PLC-positive group and PLC-negative group was 54.7% and 79.0%, respectively. The positive finding in PLC showed a tendency of an unfavorable prognosis for NSCLC patents following complete resection. Further clinical studies will be necessary to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant therapy for PLC-positive patients.