Objective: The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry(VM) and its relationship with tumor stage in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). Methods: Forty-two patients with NSCLC were collected, 19 belonged to the early stage(stages I + II) while 23 were late stage(stages III + IV). Moreover, 20 patients got surgical treatment and 22 got chemotherapy. We studied the relationship of VM with stage, chemotherapeutic effect, HIF-1α, microvessel density(MVD) and clinicopathologic features. Results: VM in patients of early stages were significantly more than late stages(68.4% vs 26.1%, P = 0.006), and the positive rate of VM was proportional to HIF-1α(P = 0.034). But no correlation was found between VM and chemotherapeutic effect(14.3% vs 26.7%, P = 1.00) or MVD(P > 0.05). Furthermore, we found VM also showed a negative correlation with distant metastases and lymph nodes metastases(P < 0.05) while no correlation was found with other clinicopathologic. Conclusion: VM was generated during the early stage in NSCLC and correlated with lymph nodes metastases. As the disease progressed, VM may be replaced by vascular endothelial cells, so the late-stage patients especially people with distant metastases had fewer VM. As the main factor produced by hypoxia, HIF-1α may make a difference in VM formation. Thus we inferred VM might be a new target for targeted therapy, and could provide help for clinical staging and treatment. Objective: The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its relationship with tumor stage in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Forty-two patients with NSCLC were collected, 19 belonged to the Early stage (stages I + II) while 23 were late stage (stages III + IV). Moreover, 20 patients got surgical treatment and 22 got chemotherapy. We studied the relationship of VM with stage, chemotherapeutic effect, HIF-1α, microvessel density (MVD) and clinicopathologic features. Results: VM in patients of early stages were significantly more than late stages (68.4% vs 26.1%, P = 0.006), and the positive rate of VM was proportional to HIF- . But no correlation was found between VM and chemotherapeutic effect (14.3% vs 26.7%, P = 1.00) or MVD (P> 0.05). Furthermore, we found VM also showed a negative correlation with distant metastases and lymph node metastases (P < 0.05) while no correlation was found with other clinicopathologic. Conclusion: VM was generated during the early stage in NSCLC and correlated with lymph node metastases. As the disease progressed, VM may be replaced by vascular endothelial cells, so the late-stage patients especially people with distant metastases had fewer VM. By hypoxia, HIF-1α may make a difference in VM formation. Thus we inferred VM might be a new target for targeted therapy, and could provide help for clinical staging and treatment.