title: Relationship of cell type and lymph node metastasis to survival after resection of bronchial carcinoma.
abstract: In the completed adjuvant chemotherapy lung trials conducted by the Veterans Administration Surgical Group, the cell type was recorded in 2,341 of 2,349 curative resections; extent of lymph node involvement was known in all cases. Nodes were normal in 1,231 patients. Five- and ten-year survival computed by the life-table method was 33.7% and 20.4%, respectively. These rates were significantly greater than the 16.2% and 8.8% recorded in 1,118 patients whose nodes showed metastases. Among patients whose cell type was known, five-year survival in 484 with hilar node involvement was 17.4% and was not significantly different from 20.1% in 364 patients in whom only lobar nodes were involved. The survival was 8.9% in 268 patients with cancer in the mediastinal nodes; this was significantly worse than either of the aforementioned groups. A five-year survival of 26.8% in 1,482 patients with squamous cell carcinoma was greater than the 24.3% in 359 with adenocarcinoma and 22.4% in 500 with undifferentiated cell types, but the differences were not significant. Variations between these groups remained nonsignificant when nodes were normal and were of only borderline significance, at the 5% level, when they showed metastasis. When a curative resection has been accomplished, cell-type as classified in this study has little bearing on long-term survival, whereas the presence of node metastasis as well as its location is of the utmost importance.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000401:mortality; D008466:Mechlorethamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D008466:Mechlorethamine; D003520:Cyclophosphamide