The relationship between growth rate, expressed as doubling time (DT), of 110 lung cancers from randomly collected patients and patient age, sex, histological type, symptoms, smoking habits, size and lymph node involvement was studied. Median DT values of epidermoid carcinomas and adenocarcinomas were superimposable (98 and 99 days, respectively), but 15 % of adenocarcinomas had a DT of more than one year. Significant correlations were found with sex (slower growth rate in females) and symptoms (faster growth in symptomatic patients), but only for adenocarcinomas. The number of cigarettes smoked did not seem to affect the growth rate of lung cancers. There was no correlation between growth rate and tumor size or lymph node involvement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DollR., PetoR.: Mortality in relation to smoking: 20 years’ observations on male British doctors.Br. Med. J., 2: 1525–1536, 1976.
2.
FeinsteinA.R.: A new staging system for cancer and reappraisal of « early » treatment and « cure » by radical surgery.N. Engl. J. Med., 279: 747–753, 1968.
3.
GalanteE., GuzzonA., PizzocaroG.: Studio quantitativo su 12 casi di metastasi polmonari da neoplasie del testicolo. In: Atti del II Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Chirurgia Oncologica, Milano, 9–10 Novembre 1978, CataniaV.C. (Ed.), pp. 587–592, Tipografia Editoriale Edos, Milano.
4.
GalanteE., MilaniA., AttiliA.: Growth rate of soft tissue sarcomas: A quantitative study of 44 local recurrences.Tumori, 66: 215–222, 1980.
5.
GalanteE., GuzzonA., GallusG., MauriM., BonoA., De CarliA., MersonM., Di PietroS.: Prognostic significance of the growth rate of breast cancer: Preliminary evaluation on the follow-up of 196 breast cancers.Tumori, 67: 333–340, 1981.
6.
GalanteE., GalluzzoD., BonoA.: Velocità di crescita dei tumori umani: Considerazione e prospettive.Argomenti di Oncologia, 3: 85–96, 1982.
7.
GalanteE., GallusG., ChiesaF., BonoA., BettoniI., MolinariR.: Growth rate of head and neck tumors.Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol., 18: 707–712, 1982.
8.
GarlandL.H., CoulsonW., WollinE.: The rate of growth and apparent duration of untreated primary bronchial carcinoma.Cancer, 16: 694–707, 1963.
9.
GeddesD.M.: The natural history of lung cancer: A review based on rates of tumor growth.Br. J. Dis. Chest, 73: 1–17, 1979.
10.
HaybuchiN., RussellW.J., MurakamiJ.: Slow-growing lung cancer in a fixed population sample: Radiologic assessments.Cancer, 52: 1098–1104, 1983.
11.
HuhtiE., SaloheimoM., SutinenS.: The value of roentgenologic screening in lung cancer.Am. Rev. Respir. Dis., 128: 395–398, 1983.
12.
MeyerJ.A.: Growth rate versus prognosis in resected primary bronchogenic carcinomas.Cancer, 31: 1468–1472, 1973.
13.
Public Health Service: Smoking and Health:A report to the Surgeon General.U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. DHEW Publ. No. (PHS), 79: 50066, 1979.
14.
RambertP., MalaiseE., LaugierA., SchliengerM., TubianaM.: Données sur la vitesse de croissance des tumeurs humaines.Bull. Cancer (Paris), 55: 323–342, 1968.
15.
RinaldiM., TonachellaR., NardiM., VenturoI., Gallo CurcioC.: Valutazione dei risultati di un'indagine su 343 carcinomi polmonari desunti da una scheda rilevamento dati.Rec. Prog. Med., 74: 678–685, 1983.
16.
RoswitB., PatnoM.E., RappR., VeinbergA., FederB., StuhlbargT., ReidC.B.: The survival of patients with inoperable lung cancer: a large-scale randomized study of radiation therapy versus placebo.Radiology, 90: 688, 1968.
17.
SchwartzM.: A biomathematical approach to clinical tumor growth.Cancer, 14: 1272–1294, 1961.
18.
SelawryO.S., HansenH.H.: Lung cancer. In: Cancer MedicineHollandJ.F., and FreiE.III (Eds.), pp. 1473–1518. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1973.
19.
SprattJ.S.Jr., KaltenbachM.L., SprattJ.A.: Cytokinetic definition of acute and chronic breast cancer.Cancer Res., 37: 226–230, 1977.
20.
SprattJ.S.Jr., SpjutH.J., RoperC.L.: The frequency distribution of the rates of growth and the estimated duration of primary pulmonary carcinomas.Cancer, 16: 687–693, 1963.
21.
SprattJ.S.Jr., SprattJ.A.: The prognostic value of measuring the gross linear radial growth of pulmonary metastases and primary pulmonary cancers.J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., 71: 274–278, 1976.
22.
WeissW., BoucotK.R., CooperD.A.: The histopathology of bronchogenic carcinoma and its relation to growth rate, metastases, and prognosis.Cancer, 26: 965–970, 1970.
23.
WeissW.: Tumor doubling time and survival of men with bronchogenic carcinoma.Chest, 65: 3–8, 1974.
