[Pretherapeutic prognostic factors in small cell bronchial cancer]

Two hundred and thirty patients with histologically proven small cell lung cancer--133 patients with limited disease and 97 patients with extensive disease--were treated from 1979 to 1986 in 3 prospective clinical trials at a single institution. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses (Cox-models) were used to determine whether pretherapeutic factors can be used to predict survival and long-term survival. Extent of disease, determined by pretherapeutic staging, turned out to be the most significant prognostic parameter. Survival beyond 2 years was almost exclusively confined to patients with limited disease. Further independent predictors of survival duration in patients with limited disease were serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase and urea. In extensive disease, however, performance status, levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase and the intensity of therapy turned out to be the best pretherapeutic prognostic factors.