title: Sarcomatous Components May Predict Prognosis in Patients with Pulmonary Pleomorphic Carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma often presents with clinically aggressive behavior. We retrospectively reviewed 16 patients who underwent surgery from 1999 to 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sarcomatous components included spindle cell type in six (38%) patients, giant cell type in three (19%) patients, and mixed cell type in seven (44%) patients. The 5-year overall survival rate was 40.6%. On univariate analysis, spindle cell type, pN0, and small tumor diameter were associated with better prognosis. The 5-year survival of six patients with spindle cell type was 83.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the small sample size, we suggest that patients with spindle cell type may have favorable prognoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuzo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigetoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yoshino
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002296:Carcinosarcoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D015641:Radiography, Interventional; D012189:Retrospective Studies