A contribution on the prognostic significance of the tumor formula (pTNM) in squamous cell carcinoma of the bronchus.

Analysable data on survival time could be obtained in the context of a follow-up investigation for 435 of 518 patients who had been operated on for squamous-cell carcinoma of the bronchus in the period 1976 to 1986. For better comparison, all tumors were staged retrospectively according to the fourth edition (1987) TNM schedule of the UICC. The mean survival time after potentially curative operation was 7.15 years in stage I, the five-year actuarial survival was 60.8%. The corresponding values were 2.68 years and 31.6% respectively in stage II, compared to 1.14 years and 13.4% respectively in stage IIIa. The differences between tumor stages are statistically significant. The nature of the resection treatment within the tumor stages did not have any effect on the survival times. Tendency to keratinize, lymphangiosis carcinomatosa, and infiltration of tumor cells into vessels also had no prognostic significance. It was also analysed to what degree tumor size and extent as well as lymph-node involvement influence the prognosis after potentially curative operation. In the absence of lymph-node involvement, the prognosis of patients with T1 and T2 tumors was significantly better than that of patients with T3 tumors. However, when metastatic spreading into bronchopulmonary lymph nodes was present (N1), the prognoses of patients with T1, T2 and T3 tumors no longer differed significantly from each other. In mediastinal lymph-node involvement (N2) and T1 tumor, the survival times were significantly better than in mediastinal lymph-node involvement and T2 or T3 tumor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)