title: Patterns of failure in patients with resected stage I and II non-small-cell carcinoma of the lung. The Ludwig Lung Cancer Study Group.
abstract: The pattern of failure was studied in 1012 patients with resected Stage I or II non-small-cell carcinoma of the lung. Initial intrathoracic failure (41%) was more common than initial extrathoracic failure (34%) even though a complete resection was the intent in all patients. The most frequent sites of initial failure were the bronchial resection line (16%) and the central nervous system (CNS) (15%). The site distribution of initial failure does not appear to depend on TNM stage or pattern of nodal involvement. Patients with poorly differentiated disease had a greater rate of initial extrathoracic failure (p less than 0.01), predominantly bone or CNS. Implications for therapy and future research are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011425:Propionibacterium acnes / Q000276:immunology