title: Peritoneoscopy in the staging of 190 patients with small-cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung with special reference to subtyping.
abstract: Peritoneoscopy with liver biopsy was routinely done as a pretreatment staging procedure in 190 patients with small-cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung. Subtyping of the patients according to the WHO classification included 28.3% with fusiform cell type (WHO II,1), 28.9% with polygonal cell type (WHO II,2), 41.5% with lymphocytelike cell type (WHO II,3) and 1.3% with mixed types (WHO II, 4). Liver metastases were found in 21% of the patients with adequate liver biopsy. In addition macroscopic signs of liver metastases were observed in 9%. No significant differences were observed among the histological subtypes. Liver function tests, such as alkaline phosphatase, LDH and GOT, were of little value in excluding liver metastases. On the other hand, 2 of 3 abnormal liver function tests were highly indicative of liver metastases. In patients with positive liver biopsy, 41% had liver metastases alone and 76% had no other evidence of distant metastatic disease if bone-marrow involvement identified with bone marrow examination is excluded as a staging procedure.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase