title: Staging in untreated patients with small cell lung cancer.
abstract: In order to describe the real biological behavior of the small-cell lung cancer we have analyzed survival rates of 66 patients with small-cell lung cancer who did not receive any specific anti cancer therapy. Also, objective of this study was to evaluate the staging system of the small-cell lung cancer. Untreated small-cell lung cancer patients with limited stage disease had statistically significant (p < 0.05) better survival rates in comparison to patients with extensive stage disease. T and N factor of the TNM classification did not influence the survival in untreated small-cell lung cancer patients. It appears that the TNM staging system is not predicting survival probabilities of untreated patients with small-cell lung cancer, while the two-stage system appeared very well based on survival probabilities of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Center of Oncology, Clinical Hospital Split, Croatia. eduard.vrdoljak@st.hinet.hr
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vrdoljak
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mise
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sapunar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rozga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marusic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors