[A study of 75 untreated lung cancers in the elderly]

The records of 1280 patients autopsied at the Yokufukai Geriatric Hospital from October 1, 1973 to August 31, 1987 were reviewed and 75 patients with untreated lung cancer, aged 70 or older, were selected. The mean age and standard deviation was 82.1 +/- 5.4 years. Male consisted of 34 subjects and 41 were female of. Histological study revealed 42 cases of adenocarcinoma, 19 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 7 cases of small cell carcinoma, 2 cases of large cell carcinoma, 1 case of carcinoid and 4 cases of the other types. The mean survival period of 44 untreated patients diagnosed as lung cancer during life was 21.1 +/- 24.1 months. The mean survival periods for 24 patients with adenocarcinoma and 11 patients with squamous cell carcinoma were 24.0 +/- 29.3 and 12.9 +/- 11.7 months, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean survival period of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. 9% of 44 untreated lung cancers survived for at least 5 years, although the survival rate was slightly lower than that generally reported in the literature. On the basis of staging of TNM classification at the autopsy, the mean survival period from the diagnosis for 13 patients with stage 1 and 27 patients with stage 4 were 27.5 +/- 33.3 and 18.5 +/- 19.7 months, respectively. The incidence of brain metastasis in 75 cases was 14.7%. In this study, adenocarcinoma was more predominant in the elderly (56.0%). An inverse relationship of age to stage was partially observed.