Fifty-five consecutive patients who underwent operation for p-T3 or p-T4 non small cell lung cancer by new-TNM classification from 1977 through 1987 were reviewed. The 5-year survival rates were 14% and 0% for stage III and stage IV, respectively.
Among M0 (stage III) group, the prognosis for relatively curative operation was significantly better than that for non-curative operation (p<0.05).
Among patients who underwent extended operation with combined resection of adjacent organs, 5-yearsurvival rate was 38% for relatively curative operation, however that of non-curative operation was 0%.
It was supposed that the new-TNM classification, T3 and T4, is adequate from the view of resectability, because a larger number of T3 cases were operated pathologically relatively curative than T4 cases. Though 5-year survival rate for p-T3 and p-T4 groups were 24% and 9% respectively, no significant difference was noticed.