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Lung cancer in patients younger than 40 years of age
Author(s) -
Maruyama Riichiroh,
Yoshino Ichiro,
Yohena Tomofumi,
Uehara Tadashi,
Kanematsu Takanori,
Kitajima Masachika,
Teruya Takao,
Ichinose Yukito
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.1096
Subject(s) - medicine , lung cancer , adenocarcinoma , young adult , stage (stratigraphy) , cancer , chemotherapy , age groups , lung , surgery , gastroenterology , paleontology , demography , sociology , biology
Background and Objectives We investigated whether the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of lung cancer in younger patients differ from those of older patients. Methods Among 2,763 lung cancer patients treated during the period from April of 1972 to April of 1997, we retrospectively investigated the clinical features and prognosis of 53 patients under 40 years of age (young group) and compared them with the findings of 1,886 patients with 60 years of age or older (elderly group). Results The proportion of female patients in the younger group was significantly higher than that in the elderly group (39.6% vs. 24.1%). The young group had a significantly higher proportion of adenocarcinoma (75.5% vs. 44.8%) and stage III‐IV disease (73.6% vs. 59.2%) and a significantly lower proportion of squamous cell carcinoma (3.8% vs. 32.1%). Regarding the selection of therapy, in the young group, a significantly lower proportion of patients underwent surgical therapy (35.8% vs. 41.5%) and a significantly higher proportion of those (37.7% vs. 16.4%) received chemotherapy. The overall survival between the young and elderly groups was not significantly different. Moreover, the 5‐year survival rate of the patients undergoing a surgical resection was 56.1% in the young group and 44.8% in the elderly group (P = 0.0615). Conclusions This study suggests that the prognosis of young patients with lung cancer is at least equivalent to that of older patients; therefore, they should be managed according to the general therapeutic guidelines. J. Surg. Oncol. 2001;77:208–212. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.