Lobectomy showed better survival than sublobar resection for patients with NSCLC ≤ 1 cm and > 1 to 2 cm. For patients in whom lobectomy is unsuitable, segmentectomy should be recommended for NSCLC > 1 to 2 cm, whereas surgeons could rely on surgical skills and the patient profile to decide between segmentectomy and wedge resection for NSCLC ≤ 1 cm.

These results provide preliminary evidence that STAS could be considered as a factor in a staging system to predict prognosis more precisely, especially in ADCs larger than 2 to 3 cm.

We developed and validated a nomogram that can estimate the pretest probability of malignant solid SPNs, which can assist clinical physicians to select and interpret the results of subsequent diagnostic tests.