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. 2019 Mar;7(5):100.
doi: 10.21037/atm.2019.01.69.

Clinicopathological characteristics and treatment strategies for young lung cancer patients

Remi Yoneyama  1   2 , Hisashi Saji  1   3 , Yasufumi Kato  1   4 , Yujin Kudo  1   5 , Yoshihisa Shimada  1 , Masakazu Kimura  2 , Masaru Hagiwara  1 , Masatoshi Kakihana  1 , Kuniharu Miyajima  1   2 , Naohiro Kajiwara  1 , Tatsuo Ohira  1 , Harubumi Kato  2 , Norihiko Ikeda  1
Affiliations

Clinicopathological characteristics and treatment strategies for young lung cancer patients

Remi Yoneyama et al. Ann Transl Med. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Background: The reported age-specific survival rates of lung cancer patients have been largely inconsistent. Management strategies for younger patients and treatment outcomes are not well characterized.

Methods: Out of the 4,697 lung cancer patients with treatment history at Tokyo Medical University Hospital between January 2000 and December 2014, 266 patients were <49 years of age. Patient characteristics were investigated, and the association of overall survival (OS) with age, sex, stage, and histological type were investigated.

Results: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates in the ≤49 years age group were 82.9%, 64.6%, and 57.0%. Among surgical cases, the survival rate of patients in the ≤49 years age group was significantly better than that in the 50-69 and ≥70 years age groups (P=0.29 and P<0.0001, respectively). In comparison with the OS rate with clinical stages, I, II, and III (but not with clinical stage IV) in the older than 50 years age group, the rates in the ≤49 years age group were better. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates of females were higher than those of their males. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates for lung adenocarcinoma patients were higher than that of lung non-adenocarcinoma patients.

Conclusions: Despite the higher proportion of advanced disease, the postoperative survival rate of the younger was higher than that of the older. Aggressive multimodality treatments, including surgery, are more feasible and effective for younger patients as compared with that in older patients.

Keywords: Young lung cancer patients; adenocarcinoma; lung cancer; survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan-Meier curves for 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival of lung cancer patients according to (A) all patients (P=0.0001), (B) surgical cases (P=0.0001), and (C) non-surgical cases in the age group of ≤49, 50–69, and ≥70.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier curves for 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival of lung cancer patients according to (A) stage 1 (P=0.0001), (B) stage 2 (P=0.0001), (C) stage 3 (P=0.0001), and (D) stage 4 in the age group of ≤49, 50–69, and ≥70.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kaplan-Meier curves for 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival of lung cancer patients according to (A) sex and age (P=0.0001) and (B) histology and age (P=0.0001) in the age group of ≤49, 50–69, and ≥70.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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