Long-Term Survival after Extended Sleeve Lobectomy (ESL) for Central Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): A Meta-Analysis with Reconstructed Time-to-Event Data

Objective: We conducted a thorough literature search on patients with central non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing either extended sleeve lobectomy (ESL) or pneumonectomy (PN). Methods: We identified all original research studies that compared the long-term survival of ESL versus PN from 1990 to 2022. The primary endpoints were the median overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Complications, operative mortality, and the reoperation rate were the secondary endpoints. Regarding the primary endpoints, independent patient data were extracted from the included studies, and pooled Kaplan–Meier curves were constructed. A sensitivity analysis was performed using the leave-one-out method. Results: Nine studies were included in the qualitative and seven in the quantitative synthesis, including 431 patients. Patients in the ESL group demonstrated a significantly higher OS compared with the PN group (HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.46–0.87; p = 0.005). In addition, patients undergoing ESL presented a significantly higher DFS compared to the PN group (HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.40–0.80; p = 0.004). These findings were further validated with a sensitivity analysis. The most common complications in the ESL group were bronchopleural fistula (4.6%), stricture (3.1%), prolonged air leakage (7.3%), sputum retention (4.6%), pneumonia (7.7%), and pulmonary vein thrombosis (1.5%). ESL was associated with a low reoperation rate (1.5%) and operative mortality (1.2%). Conclusions: The present meta-analysis indicates that ESL is associated with enhanced survival outcomes compared to PN for patients with central NSCLC. Further randomized controlled trials are necessary to validate our findings.