Commentary: Preoperative identification of spread through air  spaces (STAS): An elusive biomarker

Patients with clinical T1a non –small cell lung cancer who underwent curative intent R0 resection had a disease-free survival of 63 to 65%.1 In patients with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (ADC), high locoregional has been a perplexing issue, even when resected with negative margins. We and others have reported that micropapil lary and solid histologic subtypes are associated with greater recurrence, specifically high locoregional recurrence following limited resection.2-4 Further investigations have identified tumor cells in the normal lung beyond tumor margin and coined them as “spread through air spaces” (STAS).
Source: The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - Category: Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Authors: Tags: Commentary Source Type: research