[Long-term prognosis after surgery for pathological stage III lung cancer].
OBJECTIVE
We studied for the purpose of revealing the long-term prognosis of the surgical treatment for pathological stage III lung cancer.


METHODS
Two hundred fifty-four patients with pathological stage III disease who underwent surgical procedures in our hospital from 1981 to 2000 were investigated retrospectively.


RESULTS
The 5- and 10-year survival rates of 144 patients with stage IIIA disease were 35 and 25%, while those of 110 patients with IIIB disease were 30 and 16%. The 5- and 10-year survival rates were 40 and 27% for 52 patients with T1N2 disease, 33 and 23% for 70 patients with T2N2 disease, 34 and 0% for 9 patients with T3N1 disease, and 33 and 26% for 13 patients with T3N2 disease, respectively. In the patients with IIIB disease, the 5- and 10-year survival rates of 56 patients only with pml were 47 and 26%, those of the other patients were 9 and 0%. There is significant difference among them (p < 0.0001). In 54 patients with IIIB disease in addition to pm1, the 5-year survival rates of 19 patients with exploration only and the other patients were 7 and 14%, respectively. There were no 10-year survivors in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The long-term prognosis of pathological stage III disease was still not satisfactory. Therefore, we should make efforts to get a sufficient informed-consent before the surgery for the patients with stage III disease.
Togashi
K
K
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagaoka Red Cross Hospital, Nagaoka, Japan.
Saito
M
M
Shinohara
H
H
Wakabayashi
T
T
Asami
F
F
D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate