CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF PRIMARY MALIGNANT-TUMORS OF THE LUNG - AN ANALYSIS OF 993 TUMORS RESECTED AT THE KANAZAWA-UNIVERSITY-HOSPITAL BETWEEN 1979-1993

A retrospective study was conducted of 993 malignant tumors of the lun g in 977 patients. The male-female sex ratio was 2.6:1. The age distri bution of the males did not differ from that of the females and the ov erall mean age was 64.3 +/- 9.5 years (range, 13-85 years). Forty-thre e percent of the patients were in their seventh decade. The location w as peripheral in 81% of the tumors and central in 19%. Of the central tumors, 85% were squamous cell (epidermoid) carcinoma (SCC), while 58% of the peripheral tumors were adenocarcinoma (ADENO). In males, 49% o f all tumors were SCC and 36% ADENO, while in females 76% were ADENO. The incidence of positive lymph node metastasis increased in parallel with the pT status in both central and peripheral carcinomas. However, it was noted that, of peripheral lung carcinomas, no SCC with a diame ter of 15 mm or less had lymph node metastasis, whereas 18.9% of the A DENO of this size were positive for lymph node metastasis. These resul ts indicate that lymph node metastasis can occur even in small-sized p eripheral ADENO less than 15 mm. Thus, early detection and surgery tog ether with mediastinal lymph node dissection are necessary even for sm all-sized tumors to improve the prognosis in patients with peripheral ADENO of the lung. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.