BASALOID CARCINOMAS OF THE BRONCHUS

Basal cell carcinomas (BCC) have been described in various locations s uch as skin, anal canal, tongue, larynx and recently the lungs. These armors seem to have a poor prognosis. A series of 115 surgically resec ted lung tumors, previously classified as poorly or undifferentiated c arcinoma was retrospectively reviewed. From those 37 cases were reclas sified as BCC and were compared in terms of clinical features and surv ival with 40 cases reclassified as poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (PDSC) of the lung. There was no difference between the gro ups with respect to age, clinical presentation, pattern of relapse and cause of death. Median and overall survival were different between th e 2 groups, especially for stage I and II patients: 5 years actuarial survival in BCC was 15% and in PDSC 47% p = 0.009). There was also a d ifference in survival when we studied the patients alive 4 weeks after surgery (p = 0.04). This subset of non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a worse prognosis than other NSCLC.