Surgically Curable “Early” Adenocarcinoma in the Periphery of the Lung

Abstract

To define surgically curable “early” adenocarcinoma in the periphery of the lung, we examined histopathologic prognostic factors in 56 cases of stage I mucinous, non-mucinous, and sclerosing bronchioloalveolar carcinomas less than 2 cm in diameter. The death rate 5 years after surgery was only 1.8%, but the recurrence rate within 5 years after surgery was 8.9%. In addition, there were two cases of recurrence more than 5 years after surgery. Vascular invasion (p