Primary lung signet-ring cell carcinoma: a national analysis

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Primary lung signet-ring cell carcinoma (LSRCC) is a rare and aggressive lung cancer.
• Its clinical features and prognostic factors are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of primary LSRCC.
• To identify independent prognostic factors for patients with primary LSRCC.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Database (2004-2018).
• Comparison of overall survival (OS) using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models.
• Identification of independent prognostic indicators for LSRCC.

Main Results:

• 1,705 LSRCC, 504,006 lung adenocarcinoma (LAC), and 15,883 lung mucinous adenocarcinoma (LMAC) patients were analyzed.
• LSRCC was associated with younger age, male sex, larger/poorly differentiated tumors, and advanced stage.
• LSRCC patients had significantly worse OS compared to LAC and LMAC in unadjusted analysis, and worse OS than LAC in multivariable analysis.

Conclusions:

• LSRCC exhibits distinct clinicopathological characteristics compared to LAC.
• Independent predictors of survival for LSRCC include younger age, later diagnosis year, lower comorbidity score, lower AJCC stage, higher income, smaller tumors, and treatment with surgery and chemotherapy.