[Prognostic factors in nonresected adenocarcinoma of the lung]

We have studied the prognostic factors of 117 cases of unresected adenocarcinoma of the lung, and have examined these cases according to the following categories: age, sex, clinical stage, performance status (P.S.), serum albumin on admission, serum CEA, the presence of complication, the present status of an abnormal chest shadow from a year ago at the same location, and differentiation of cells. Significant differences were detected in the P.S., the serum albumin and the presence of complications by survival analysis through the use of covariate-Cox models. We also have noted that the difference between stage I and the other stages of the clinical stage was found to be significant by a generalized Wilcoxon test. In conclusion, the determining prognostic factors of an unresected adenocarcinoma of the lung are the P.S., the serum albumin, the presence of complications and the clinical stage.