SYNCHRONOUS PRIMARY LUNG CANCERS - PREVALENCE IN SURGICAL MATERIAL AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Background-The prevalence of synchronous primary lung neoplasms in sur gical resection specimens was assessed. The associated clinical featur es and prognostic implications were investigated. Methods-All surgical resections for lung cancer performed during seven years were reviewed . Synchronous tumours were defined by the presence of more than one tu mour mass in the lung, by differences in histological subtype, by the presence of separate bronchial origins, or by differences in DNA steml ines. Clinical data were abstracted from case notes and information fr om the tumour registry. Results-Just under 2% of all surgical specimen s in the study period contained more than one primary carcinoma. The p atients did not differ clinically from the general population of patie nts having surgery for lung cancer. The overall prognosis was poor (me an survival 27 months) but was significantly better for patients with synchronous squamous carcinomas (mean survival 49 months). Conclusion- Synchronous primary lung carcinomas are associated with a poor prognos is except in patients having tumours only of squamous histological typ e.