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Vol.39 No.3 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
Prognostic Factors of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients with Malignant Pleural Effusion
Takashi Seto, Hiroshi Semba, Mayumi Seto, Yuki Nishida and Yuji FukaiDivision of Respiratory Diseases: Kumamoto Regional Medical Center
Prognostic factors in 70 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with malignant pleural effusion at initial treatment were examined retrospectively.They constituted 11% of the patients with NSCLC, diagnosed at our hospital from 1990 to 1997. Although 9 of the patients had negative in effusion cytology findings, malignant effusion was diagnosed by thoracoscopic pleural biopsy under local anesthesia. Of the patients with malignant pleural effusion 89% were adenocarcinoma of the lung. Using non-parametorical method analyses, N-factor (p=0.0105), clinical stage (0.0247), ECOG performance status (0.001), protein value of effusion (0.0095), and effusion volume/day (0.0019) were recognized as prognostic factors. Furthermore, N-factor and low protein value of effusion were poor predictive factors for survival, and intra-pleural chemotherapy and systemic chemotherapy were related to good survival in multivariate analysis. In clinical trail for patients with malignant pleural effusion, we must carefully compare these pre-treatment factors.
key words: Non-small cell lung cancer, Malignant pleural effusion, Prognostic factors
Received: September 18, 1998
Accepted: April 15, 1999
JJLC 39 (3): 303-308, 1999
