Lepidic component identifies a subgroup of lung adenocarcinoma with a distinctive prognosis: a multicenter propensity-matched analysis

Background: Our aim was to investigate the prognostic impact of the lepidic component on T stage in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Methods: A retrospective data set including 863 cases of LUAD with lepidic component and 856 cases without lepidic component was used to identify matched lepidic-positive and lepidic-negative cohorts ( n = 376 patients per group) using a propensity-score matching. Primary outcome variables included recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). Prognostic factors were assessed by Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier estimates. Results: Multivariate analysis revealed that lepidic component presence was an independent prognostic factor for prolonged RFS ( p < 0.001) and OS ( p < 0.001). Furthermore, lepidic ratio (LR) >25% or ⩽25% were confirmed to be independent prolonged survival predictors. No survival differences were observed between patients with LUAD with LR >25% or ⩽25% (RFS p = 0.333; OS p = 0.078). The 5-year OS rates of patients with LUAD with a lepidic component were 90% regardless of the T stage, and these survival rates were significantly better than those of patients with LUAD without a lepidic component in the corresponding T stage. Multivariate analysis confirmed that T stage was associated with survival only in patients with LUAD without a lepidic component. Conclusions: Lepidic component presence identifies a LUAD subgroup with an excellent prognosis independent of the LR, pathological T classification. Considering the lepidic component presence may improve prognostic predictions for patients with LUAD.