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BackgroundThis study retrospectively investigated the clinical significance of undiagnosed solitary lung nodules removed by surgical resection.Patients and methodsWe retrospectively collected data on the age, smoking, cancer history, nodule size, location and spiculation of 241 patients who had nodules measuring 7 mm to 30 mm and a final diagnosis established by histopathology. We compared the final diagnosis of each patient with the probability of malignancy (POM) which was proposed by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines.ResultsOf the 241 patients, 203 patients were diagnosed to have a malignant lung tumor, while 38 patients were diagnosed with benign disease. There were significant differences in the patients with malignant and benign disease in terms of their age, smoking history, nodule size and spiculation. The mean value and the standard deviation of the POM in patients with malignant tumors were 51.7 + 26.1%, and that of patients with benign lesions was 34.6 + 26.7%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.67. The best cut-off value provided from the ROC curve was 22.6. When the cut-off value was set at 22.6, the sensitivity was 83%, specificity 52%, positive predictive value 90%, negative predictive value 36% and accuracy 77%, respectively.ConclusionsThe clinical prediction model proposed in the ACCP guidelines showed unsatisfactory results in terms of the differential diagnosis between malignant disease and benign disease of solitary lung nodules in our study, because the specificity, negative predictive value and AUC were relatively low.

PurposeThis study investigated whether the number of involved lymph nodes is associated with the prognosis in patients that underwent surgery for pathological stage (p-stage) III/N2 NSCLC.SubjectsThis study evaluated 121 patients with p-stage III/N2 NSCLC.ResultsThe histological types included 65 adenocarcinomas, 39 squamous cell carcinomas and 17 others. The average number of dissected lymph nodes was 23.8 (range: 6-55). The average number of involved lymph nodes was 5.9 (range: 1-23). The 5-year survival rate of the patients was 51.0% for single lymph node positive, 58.9% for 2 lymph nodes positive, 34.2% for 3 lymph nodes positive, and 30.0% for 4 lymph nodes positive, and 20.4% for more than 5 lymph nodes positive. The patients with either single or 2 lymph nodes positive had a significantly more favorable prognosis than the patients with more than 5 lymph nodes positive. A multivariate analysis revealed that the number of involved lymph nodes was a significant independent prognostic factor.ConclusionSurgery appears to be preferable as a one arm of multimodality therapy in p-stage III/N2 patients with single or 2 involved lymph nodes. The optimal incorporation of surgery into the multimodality approach therefore requires further clinical investigation.

This study evaluated 325 patients who had undergone pleural lavage cytology (PLC) immediately after thoracotomy following a complete resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 2004 and 2008. The number of patients with negative and positive findings in PLC was 309 and 13, respectively. The proportion of T1 in the PLCpositive group was significantly smaller than that of the PLC-negative group. The pathologic examinations revealed that the parietal pleural invasion was significantly more severe in the PLC-positive group than in the PLC-negative group. Pathologic lymphovascular invasion was also significantly more prominent in the PLC-positive group than in the PLC-negative group. The 5-year survival rate after surgery in the PLCpositive group and PLC-negative group was 54.7% and 79.0%, respectively. The positive finding in PLC showed a tendency of an unfavorable prognosis for NSCLC patents following complete resection. Further clinical studies will be necessary to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant therapy for PLC-positive patients.

Tracheoesophageal/bronchoesophageal fistulas are often caused by locally advanced esophageal cancer and lung cancer, and result in life-threatening conditions such as severe cough and dyspnea due to pneumonia. We herein report the clinical characteristics of 4 patients with tracheoesophageal/bronchoesophageal fistulas. All patients were men, and ranged in age from 40–69 years. Three patients had esophageal cancer and 1 had lung cancer. All 4 underwent esophageal bypass using a gastric tube with tube drainage of the distal side of the esophagus. Three patients died at 3, 4, and 5 months after surgery. However, these patients were allowed to enjoy food orally up until the last few days of life. One patient who underwent esophageal bypass and chemoradiotherapy has remained well for 5 years without any evidence of recurrence. This bypass procedure is therefore considered to be a feasible treatment choice for patients with tracheoesophageal/bronchoesophageal fistulas.

This study retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics and prognosis of the non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who underwent segmentectomy as either intentional or passive limited surgery. The subjects included in this study comprised 72 patients who underwent segmentectomy at our hospital. There were 23 patients who underwent intentional segmentectomy. The histologic type was adenocarcinoma in all of these patients. Regarding the tumor size, 9 tumors were 1 cm or less in diameter, 13 were 1.1 to 2 cm, and 1 was 2.5 cm. All patients who underwent intentional segmentectomy were alive without any recurrence as of the last follow-up examination. A passive segmentectomy was performed for 49 patients. The reasons for passive segmentectomy were due to the presence of metachronous multiple lung cancer in 14 patients, synchronous multiple lung cancer in 9 patients, age above 80 years in 12 patients, reduced pulmonary function in 8 patients, and moderate to severe cardiovascular disease in 4 patients; another 2 patients were receiving treatment for another primary cancer. The 5-year survival rate of the patients who underwent passive segmentectomy was 69.8%. There was no postoperative mortality in either of the groups. This study showed that all of the patients who underwent intentional segmentectomy were alive without any recurrence, thus suggesting that the procedure is associated with sufficient oncologic efficacy, along with preservation of the lung function. The passive segmentectomy was a feasible procedure and was an alternative procedure with an acceptable overall survival rate in high-risk patients with underlying medical comorbidities.