Cavitated tumor as a clinical subentity in squamous cell lung cancer patients

Cavity in lung cancer patients is usually attributed to worse prognosis, which could be caused by diagnostic difficulties and late surgery. The aim of this study is to identify cavity as clinical subentity in squamous cell lung cancer (SqCLC) patients. 1094 patients with I0 - III0 of SqCLC underwent surgery with the purpose of radical lobectomy or pneumonectomy. The patients were divided into two groups: 100 patients with cavity (cSqCLC) and 994 with solid tumor (sSqCLC). The clinical, histological and prognostic features were compared for the both groups. The Cox multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors was performed. The survival curves for both groups were compared. cSqCLC patients showed lower body mass and more frequent hemoptoe. They had larger tumors, located peripherically, rarer nodal involvement and atelectasis. Despite the similar cancer stage and the exploratory thoracotomies ratio, cSqCLC patients lived shorter. The survival curves for both groups were different: in all population, for patients after radical surgery and even after exploratory thoracotomy. We conclude that the cavitation in SqCLC patients can be regarded as a separate subentity related to worse prognosis.