POSTRECURRENT SURVIVAL OF PATIENTS WITH NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER UNDERGOING A COMPLETE RESECTION

The postrecurrent survival of 215 patients who had undergone a complet e resection of non-small-cell lung cancer was examined on the basis of various factors, which included gender (female, male), age (<65, grea ter than or equal to 65), the pathologic stage of disease at the time of operation (I, II, III), histologic type (squamous cell, nonsquamous cell carcinoma), type of operation (pneumonectomy, other), the select ion of adjuvant treatment before recurrence (no treatment, mild chemot herapy, intensive chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy), recurrent site (l ocal, distant), and the disease-free interval (less than or equal to 3 65, greater than or equal to 365 days). A univariate analysis of the p ostrecurrent survival showed that the significant factors influencing the survival consisted of gender, pathologic stage, recurrent site, se lection of adjuvant treatment, and the disease-free interval. Namely, female patients or patients who had pathologic stage I disease, local recurrence, no adjuvant treatment, or a disease-free interval of more than 365 days would be expected to have a prolonged survival after rec urrence. Of the five significant factors, only two factors (gender and the selection of the adjuvant treatment) were found to be predominant postrecurrent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. These obse rvations suggest that the biologic behavior of a recurrent tumor may t herefore be influenced by gender and adjuvant treatment before recurre nce.