Multivariate survival analysis revealed that ADAM9 expression, instead of other factors such as patients’ gender, age, smoking status, histological type and pathological stage (IA and IB), was an independent predictor of prognosis for this group of surgically resected stage I NSCLC cases (HR, 3.385; 95% CI, 1.224–9.360; P=0.019). This evidence concerns the gene ADAM9 and non-small cell lung carcinoma.