CLINICAL EVALUATION OF ADVANCED LUNG CANCER LESS THAN 30mm IN SIZE

Abstract

A clinico-pathological study of the advanced lung cancer less than 30mm in size was performed. We treated 158 primary lung cancer patients from January 1, 1987 to December 31, 1992. In 28 cT1 NO MO non-small cell lung cancer patients, there were 8 cases with pT1 N2 MO (p-Stage IIIA) or pT1 anyN M1 (p-Stage IV) advanced lung cancer. However, these cases were not assessed preoperatively. The age range was 46-82 (average 64.3 years) ; 4 were male. Of these 8 patients, 5 were detected in mass surveys for lung cancer, 3 were detected by complaints. In these cases, the range of lung tumor diameters was 15-30 mm (average 20mm) and the levels of serum CEA were below 5ng/dl. The histological types were adenocarcinoma in all of 8 patients. Histopathologically, lymphatic invasion was observed in 8 of these cases, and mediastinal lymph node metastasis in 4. W e conclude that constructive mediastinal lymph node dissection, adjuvant therapy and reliable preoperative diagnosis are important to small sized advanced lung cancer.