Survival of patients surgically treated for lung cancer.

A study was done on survival of patients surgically treated for lung cancer from 1995-2001. The average operative rate for 852 patients was 4.8%. In 67 surgically treated patients (54M, 13F), the commonest histological type was squamous cell carcinoma (52.2%) followed by adenocarcinoma (26.9%). The surgical-pathological stage was stage I in 52.2%. Postoperatively, five-year survival was 29%, with a median survival of 27 months. Completeness of resection was the foremost determinant of survival outcome and stage higher than stage I was an adverse prognostic factor. These results indicate that the current outlook for lung cancer patients remains poor.