Histologic changes in small cell lung carcinoma after treatment

✍ Scribed by Hiroaki Fushimi; Masanori Kikui; Hideo Morino; Satoru Yamamoto; Ryuhei Tateishi; Akira Wada; Katsuyuki Aozasa; Kiyoshi Kotoh

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 648 KB
• Volume: 77
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19960115)77:2<278::aid-cncr9>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

Small cell lung carcinoma (SC1.C) has been divided into three subtypes: pure SCLC. mixed small cellllarge cell carcinoma (mixed SCILC), and combined SCLC. Patients with mixed SC/LC show a worse prognosis than those with pure SCLC.

METHODS.

Persistence of histologic subtype in SCLC in the primary sites during the course of treatment or in the different organs at autopsy was examined. For this purpose, biopsy or cytologic specimens before chemotherapy, and autopsy specimens from 175 patients with SCLC were reviewed. They included 147 (84%) men and 28 (16%) women with an age range of 29-83 (median, 65) years.

RESULTS.

The frequency of mixed SClLC in the primary sites was statistically higher in autopsy (14.3%) than that in biopsy or cytology specimens (8.6%) ( P < 0.05). At autopsy, involved organs were categorized into two groups according to frequency of appearance of mixed SC/LC, i.e., a higher frequency group, including the liver (31 of 85; 36.4%), adrenal gland (15 of 56; 26.8%), brain (6 of 9; 66.7%), and extrathoracic lymph nodes (17 of 59; 28.8%) and a lower frequency group. including the lung (metastatic sites) (12 of 102; 11.8%), pleura (8 of 74; 10.8%), and intrathoracic lymph nodes (12 of 94; 12.8%). The difference in frequency between these two groups was statistically significant ( P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS.

These findings suggest that primary pure SCLC can progress to mixed SC/LC with a n increased potential for distant metastasis. Cancer 1996;