title: Influence of staging in superior sulcus (Pancoast) tumors of the lung.
abstract: Fifty-three patients with superior sulcus (Pancoast) tumors of the lung followed for up to 12 years by the Armed Forces Central Medical Registry were divided into three groups. In Group 1, preoperative stagin as determined by bone, brain, and liver scans or combinations thereof and the presence of local nodal extension as determined by mediastinoscopy or scalene fat pad biopsy were negative. These 16 patients received preoperative irradiation followed by en bloc resection of the lung and of the involved chest wall in most of them. Five-year survival as determined by the actuarial method was 49.7%. The 12 patients in Group 2 either had localized nodal involvement or were not diagnosed preoperatively. Survival in this group was 13.1%. Group 3 patients were considered inoperable and were given palliative irradiation. There were 25 patients in this group, and survival was 5.5% at 4 years. It would appear that preoperative irradiation and en bloc resection give improved survival in those patients judged free from metastatic disease preoperatively.
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008481:Mediastinoscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010178:Pancoast Syndrome / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging