Clinicopathologic Characteristics and Outcomes of Simultaneous Multiple Primary Lung Cancer

Simultaneous multiple primary lung cancer has been detected increasingly nowadays with the development of image technology. However, the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes are not clear.

All consecutive patients diagnosed as simultaneous multiple primary lung cancer according to Martini-Melamed and American College of Chest Physicians criteria from June 2010 to June 2019 in our center were enrolled. The clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes were compared between patients with the same histological type and different histological types.

A total of 336 patients were enrolled, consisting of 297 (88.4%) patients with the same histological type and 39 (11.6%) patients with different histological types. Compared to patients with the same histological type, patients with different histological types were more commonly males (87.2% vs. 34.0%; p < 0.001) with an older age (65 [62-69] vs. 59 [52-65] yrs; p < 0.001) at diagnosis. Also, patients with different histological types showed worse respiratory function and more advanced stage according to TNM staging. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival of overall patients was 97.7%, 96.1%, and 92.2%, and the 1-, 2-, and 3-year recurrence-free survival of overall patients was 96.8%, 92.9% and 85.7%, respectively. Importantly, patients with different histological types showed worse overall survival (p < 0.001) and recurrence-free survival (p=0.002) than patients with same histological type. The multivariable Cox proportional hazard model revealed that presence of different histological types was significant predictor for worse overall survival (adjusted hazard ratio: 10.00; 95% confidence interval: 2.92-34.48; p < 0.001) and recurrence-free survival (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.59; 95% confidence interval: 1.14-5.88; p=0.023).

Although relatively less common in simultaneous multiple primary lung cancer, patients with different histological types showed worse clinical characteristics and outcomes.