title: Pulmonary blastoma: report of five cases and identification of clinical features suggestive of the disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identification of clinical features suggestive of pulmonary blastoma (PB) through a retrospective comparison with cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) operated during the same period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1977 and 1999, five patients were operated for PB at Geneva University Hospital (four women and one man, aged 32-46 years--mean 36.8) versus 1913 consecutive patients (1558 men and 355 women, mean age 61.2) for primary NSCLC. In the PB subgroup (0.3%), the pulmonary tumor was single, located in an upper lobe in all but one instance, and measured between 5 and 13 cm (mean 9.6), whereas in the total NSCLC group, 27% of patients had tumors <3 cm (T1), evenly distributed in both lungs. All but one PB patients were symptomatic, compared to 45% in the NSCLC group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The five patients with PB underwent curative pulmonary excisions (lobectomy in three and pneumonectomy in two) with mediastinal lymph node sampling. Pathological examination revealed extensive tumor necrosis in four, and N2 lymph node metastases in four (in the total NSCLC group, N2 disease was diagnosed in 21%). Postoperatively, three PB patients received radio- and/or chemotherapy. Four patients died between six and 30 months after the operation (mean 15), whereas 5-year survival in the NSCLC group was 32%, with a median survival of 3.7 years; the fifth patient is alive 28 months later, without any sign of recurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared to operated NSCLC, PB are rare, large, and symptomatic tumors; they affect younger patients and carry a worse prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland. john.h.robert@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pache
authors.forename: Yodit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seium
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Perrot
authors.forename: Anastase
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spiliopoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000175:diagnosis; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018202:Pulmonary Blastoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate