Results of surgical treatment of T3 lung carcinoma according to the combined resection of involved organs

A new TNM staging system was decided last year by UICC, consequently T3N0M0 was transferred from stage IIIA to stage IIB. Although T3 is defined to include tumors with direct invasion to adjacent organs. Those are chest wall, parietal pleura, diaphragma and pericardium, however results of surgical treatment according to the combined resection of involved organs described above have not been investigated yet enough. Eighty-nine cases with T3 from 1996 were divided into two groups, patients from 1986 to 1990 and from 1994 to 1998. In the former phase 46 cases were resected and its 5-year survival rate was 15.6%. Better prognosis with significant difference was shown in patients between N0 (5-year survival: 25.1%) and N1 + N2 (5-year survival: 4.0%). In the latter phase 43 cases underwent surgery and its 3-year survival was 24.0%. In the prognoses according to the involved adjacent organs, patients with combined resection of parietal pleura showed the best survival in comparison with patients of chest wall resection and pericardial resection, but there was no significant difference in these 3 groups. Two patients with combined resection of diaphragma are well alive.