Factors Effecting Long-term Survival in Operated Large Cell Carcinoma of the Lung

The aim of this study was to evaluate of the results of the treatment of patients who underwent surgery due to large cell lung carcinoma and to analyze the variables affecting the survival outcomes. Pulmonary resections were performed on 1221 patients with pathological stages I, II, III non-small cell lung cancer between January 2003 and January 2013. A total of 85 patients (7%) who were histologically diagnosed with large cell lung carcinoma and 10 patients were excluded from the study because of operative mortality, incomplete resection, and follow-up. The records of 75 patients undergoing complete resection were evaluated in terms of demographics, survival rates, and variables affecting the survival. Seventy-one (94.7%) male and four (5.3%) female patients with a mean age of 58.1±9.8 years (range: 38 to 76 years) were included in the study. Neoadjuvant treatment was administered to four (5.3%) patients. Lobectomy was performed on 53 (70.7%) patients and 28 (37.3%) had neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in their tumors. Median and five-year survival rates were 80.8 months and 51.1%, respectively in a mean follow-up period of 34.9±27.7 months (range: 2.4 to 91.6 months). Five-year survival rates in the groups with and without neuroendocrine differentiation were 37.8% and 57.9%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.53). The absence of lymph node metastasis and adjuvant treatment had positive effects on survival in patients with large cell lung carcinoma who underwent resection. Although not statistically significant, neuroendocrine differentiation led to a lower survival rates.