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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;117:599-604
© 1999 Mosby, Inc.

GENERAL THORACIC SURGERY

LARGE CELL CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG: RESULTS OF RESECTION FOR A CURE

From the Division of Thoracic Surgery^a and the Department of Pathology,^b Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Received for publication Feb 11, 1998. revisions requested March 16, 1998. revisions received Nov 3, 1998. Accepted for publication Nov 4, 1998. Address for reprints: Robert J. Downey, MD, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave, New York, NY 10021.^*Current address: Attending Surgeon, Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Minami-Kyoto Hospital, Nakaashihara 11, Joyo, Kyoto, 610-01, Japan.

Objective: The effectiveness of surgical resection of large cell undifferentiated carcinoma of the lung remains poorly defined because of the histology's relatively low frequency, the tendency for presentation with high-stage disease, and the failure in most published series to separate large cell carcinomas from the other variants of non–small cell lung carcinoma. To define the effectiveness of surgical treatment of large cell carcinoma, we reviewed the Mayo Clinic experience over a 5-year period.
Methods: We have retrospectively reviewed the Mayo Clinic experience with 61 patients with large cell carcinoma and 17 patients with adenocarcinoma with focal mucin production who came to surgical resection during the 5-year period of January 1, 1982, through December 31, 1986.
Results: One-hundred percent 5-year follow-up was obtained. For the 61 patients with large cell carcinoma, the overall 5-year survival was 37%. Five-year survival for those with stage I tumors was 58% (n = 31), stage II 33% (n = 6), stage IIIA 15% (n = 20), stage IIIB 0% (n = 2), and stage IV 0% (n = 2). No significant differences in survival were detected between the 61 patients with large cell carcinoma and the 17 patients with solid adenocarcinoma with mucin production.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that there is a subset of patients with large cell carcinoma of the lung who can undergo resection with a reasonable expectation of long-term survival and that this survival is, stage for stage, comparable to or only slightly less than that achieved with other non–small cell lung carcinomas.