Relation Between Tumor-draining Lymph Nodes Metastasis Pattern and Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Effectiveness

Relation Between Tumor-draining Lymph Nodes Metastasis Pattern and Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Effectiveness: A Retrospective Multi-institutional Cohort Analysis

The goal of this retrospective cohort analysis is to discover the impact of the involvement extent of tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) in patients who received neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy. The main question it aims to answer is the role of TDLN in the prediction of treatment effectiveness. Researches will compare tumor-draining lymph nodes metastasis (mTDLNs) group and non-draining lymph nodes metastasis (mNDLNs) group to see whether different metastatic patterns of mediastinal lymph nodes can indicate the treatment effectiveness.

Inclusion Criteria:

• pathologically-confirmed diagnosis of NSCLC by pretreatment biopsy
• clinically staged as T1-4N0-2M0
• having undergo neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy
• the agents of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) belong to PD-1/L1 inhibitors
• having undergo surgery with lymph nodes (LNs) dissection
• having postoperative pathology reports with evaluation of primary tumor and LNs response
• having accessible pretreatment and preoperative radiology examinations imaging or reports

Exclusion Criteria:

• using PD-1/L1 inhibitors in the phase of clinical trials
• the agents of neoadjuvant therapy including angiogenesis inhibitors
• having undergone radiotherapy to treat primary tumor or metastatic LNs before surgery