The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 32, 23-27, Copyright © 1981 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Site of recurrence in patients with stages I and II carcinoma of the lung resected for cure
SC Immerman, RM Vanecko, WA Fry, LR Head and TW Shields
Ninety-nine patients with Stage I or II lung carcinoma that was other than
the small cell type and who survived for more than 30 days after a
"curative" resection were followed for five years or until death if it
occurred prior to the five-year anniversary. Recurrent disease developed in
44 patients. Clinical data and data from postmortem examination were
reviewed in these 44 patients in an attempt to classify each recurrence as
either initially local or distinct metastatic disease. The site of the
first documented recurrence was local in 18 patients and distance
metastases in 26. When the patients with recurrence were separated into TNM
categories, it was apparent that in those patients without lymph nodes
metastases demonstrated in the resected specimen (N0), the initial
recurrence tended to be a distant metastases, whereas in those with such
involvement (N1), the initial occurrence was more often local. In light of
these data, selection of appropriate initial adjuvant therapeutic
modalities may be different for each type of patient.
