Adenocarcinoma of the lung: a contribution on prognosis after potentially curative resection

From 1976 to 1989, 166 patients were operated on for primary adenocarcinoma of the lung. For better comparison, all the tumors were categorized retrospectively according to the TNM system of the UICC 4th edition of 1987. One hundred and thirty-eight patients could be potentially curatively operated. The average survival time following incomplete resection was 5 months and after potentially curative resection it was 65 months for stage I, 22 months for stage II and 6.5 months for stage IIIa. The 5-year survival rate was 53.7% for stage I, 18.5% for II and 0% for IIIa. The differences between the tumor stages are statistically significant. At the time of writing a large number of the patients have already died due to either recurrence of the tumor or, as in most cases, secondary metastases distant from the primary growth CI: 32%, II: 66%, IIIa: 79%). Comparison of the results of potentially curative operations in patients with adenocarcinoma and those with squamous cell carcinoma show a better prognosis in the equivalent stages for cases of squamous cell carcinoma. In seven cases there was the situation of ipsilateral pulmonary metastasis which could be subjected to potentially curative resection together with the primary tumor (5 bronchioloalveolar, 2 other adenocarcinomas). The prognosis of these patients was just as good, following resection, as for cases of T2N0 tumors without such metastases.