Tomizawa K et al. – In the current study, tumor cavitation was shown to be an independent factor for poor prognosis in patients with resected p-stage I–IIA primary lung cancer.

Methods

• 602 patients with p-stage I–IIA primary lung cancer who underwent lung resections were evaluated for tumor cavitations.

Results

• 59 of 602 patients had tumor cavitations (10%).
• Patients with tumor cavitations had a significantly higher frequency of the following characteristics: high serum carcinoembryonic antigen level (greater than or equal to 5?ng/ml); interstitial pneumonia; high SUVmax value on FDG-PET scan (greater than or equal to 4.2); tumors located in the lower lobe; large tumor size (?>?3?cm); vascular invasion (66% vs. 17%); and non-adenocarcinoma histology.
• The overall survival in patients with tumor cavitations was significantly shorter than patients without tumor cavitations (5-year OS = 56% vs. 81%).
• Tumor cavitation is an independent and significant factor associated with poor prognosis (HR = 1.76).