Systematic lymph nodes dissection has been a standard procedure in lung cancer surgery, while the manipulation of mediastinal lymph nodes for early stage lung cancer remains controversial since surgeons have been weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of lymph node dissection. With an increasing in early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients in recent years, there are more and more intensive studies especially focusing on the mediastinal lymph nodes dissection of clinical stage ⅠA lung cancer. In this review, the lymph nodes management of clinical stage ⅠA non-small cell lung cancer, especially systematic lymph nodes dissection and sampling as well as lobe-specific lymph node dissection, are summarized.
