The increasing recognition of adenosquamous lung carcinoma (1977-1986)

A retrospective analysis of the data in the tumor registry on all 103 patients with adenosquamous lung carcinoma diagnosed and treated at our center between 1977 and 1986 was performed. The history of tobacco use was available for 100 patients (72 men and 28 women). Ninety-four percent of the patients (100% of men and 79% of women) were smokers, suggesting that adenosquamous carcinoma may be a Kreyberg I type of lung carcinoma. The gender, race, and age distributions in adenosquamous carcinoma were similar to other histologic subtypes of lung carcinoma. Patients less than 45 years old constituted 10%; 45-54 years old, 24%; 55-64 years old, 34%; 65-74 years old, 25%; and greater than 75 years, 7%. In the 95 patients whose stage at the time of diagnosis was known, 11% had local stage; 28%, regional; and 61%, distant stage. The 1-, 2- and 5-year survival of the 103 patients were 27%, 18%, and 8%, respectively. Survival was related to stage. Local stage had the best survival, and greater than 50% of patients were alive at 4 years. Regional stage had an intermediate median survival of 10 months but no survivors at 5 years. Distant stage had the worst median survival (5 months), and one patient (2%) was alive at 3 years. There was a significant increase (two- to three-fold) in the frequency of adenosquamous carcinoma over the 10-year study period, 1977-1986.