The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 76, 364-368, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Four decades of experience with resections for bronchogenic carcinoma at the Massachusetts General Hospital
EW Wilkins Jr, JG Scannell and JG Craver
Experience at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) with resections for
primary lung carcinoma is brought up to the clinical staging era (1971)
with a 5 year cumulative survival statistic of 30 percent for the period
1964 through 1970. Comparison of four decades of experience reveals no
change in cumulative survival for pulmomary resections for primary lung
carcinoma in the years 1941 through 1970. Attention is directed to the
hospital mortality rates for pneumonectomy and lobectomy and to the
principal causes for these rates. Lymph node metastasis continues to be the
single most ominous predictor of potential survival after pulmonary
resection for carcinoma, particularly for all non-squamous cell types.