A clinicopathologic study of the resected cases of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung

Ten cases of surgically resected adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung were studied clinicopathologically, and their outcome was compared with that of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas of the lung. The frequency rate of adenosquamous carcinoma was 1.5% of 668 primary lung cancers resected in our hospital. The survival curves of patients with adenosquamous carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and squamous cell carcinomas indicated that the outcome of adenosquamous carcinoma was statistically poorer than that of adenocarcinoma (p=0. 01), and tended to be poorer than that of squamous cell carcinoma (p=0.051). The amount of adenocarcinoma component did not affect the survival rate. Five-year survival was not obtained in this series. Although our series is small, this study suggests that adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung is an aggressive tumor with poor prognosis.