Prognosis for resected lung cancer patients with tumors greater than ten centimeters in diameter

During the period 1962-1986, 43 lung cancer patients, 2.3% of the 1,832 patients who underwent pulmonary resections at the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, had tumors greater than 10 cm in diameter. These 43 cancers were classified postsurgically according to the 1987 guidelines for TNM classification of malignant tumors established by Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC), and included 35 cases (81.0%) in stages IIIA, IIIB and IV. The histological tumor types were adenocarcinoma in 18 cases (41.9%), squamous cell carcinoma in 13 (30.2%), large cell carcinoma in 11 (25.6%) and adenosquamous cell carcinoma in one (2.3%). Twenty-two patients underwent pneumonectomy and 21, lobectomy. In terms of the radical extent of surgery, 16 patients underwent a curative operation (37.2%) and 27 received non-curative surgery (62.8%). Excluding one patient who died of an unknown postoperative cause, the overall cumulative five-year survival rate was 19.7%. There was, however, no significant difference in five-year survival rates between the patients who underwent a curative operation (21.5%) and those who received non-curative surgery (18.8%). There was no significant difference in five-year survival rates between patients with adenocarcinoma (21.2%), those with squamous cell carcinoma (15.4%) and those with large cell carcinoma (27.3%). There was little difference in five-year survival rates between patients with postoperative stage I or stage II tumors (25.0%), patients with stage IIIA tumors (9.5%), patients with stage IIIB tumors (30.0%) and patients with stage IV tumors (20.0%), while the five-year survival rates for patients with postoperative N0 disease were 33.3%, N1 disease 28.9% and N2 disease 0%. Among the 42 patients the survival study, there were eight long-term survivors (greater than 5 yr), all of whom had been in N0 or N1 stage and four of whom had undergone curative surgery. Two were classified as being in stage T4 with malignant pleural effusions, and the other two as being in stage M1 with intrapulmonary metastasis. Patients with N2 disease have an unfavorable prognosis and may be considered suitable for studies on adjuvant therapy, although the relative influence of other prognostic factors must be considered. Classifying the tumors according to whether or not they had reached 10 cm in diameter was of no importance.