[Prognosis and survival of pT1N2 lung carcinoma undergoing pulmonary resection and mediastinal lymph node dissection]

In the past 15 years, mediastinal lymph node dissection in conjunction with pulmonary resection was performed on 39 pT1N2 patients at Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital. The patients consisted of 4 histological cell types: 26 adenocarcinomas, 5 epidermoid carcinomas, 4 large cell carcinomas and 4 small cell carcinomas. The absolute five-year survival rate for pT1 N2 patients undergoing curative resection was 52.7% which was better than that of patients with stage II non-small cell carcinoma surgically resected during the same period. This finding suggests that pT1N2 group is a special entity among pN2 lung carcinoma, that shows better survival rate than less advanced patients with respect to pathological stage (stage II).