Bronchogenic Carcinoma - Supplement

Our plain-English summary of Bronchogenic Carcinoma - Supplement, by A. Ochsner (1950).

The study

• Author: A. Ochsner
• Published: Journal of the Kansas Medical Society p46-49 August (Supplement) (1950)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This is a lecture on bronchiogenic carcinoma (lung cancer) by a New Orleans surgeon. It is based on the author's series of 705 proved cases and does not mention asbestos. The author stated a conviction, not tested in the series, that the rising incidence was due to cigarette use. Of the 705 cases, 295 were obviously inoperable and 237 had lung resections. Of those, 77.6 per cent were classed as palliative because the cancer had spread beyond the lung. In the 237 resected cases, bronchoscopy gave a positive diagnosis in 90 (38 per cent). The author reported that sputum cytology gave a correct preoperative diagnosis in 80 per cent of cases. Among resections the author classified as curative, 44 per cent of patients were alive at five years. Among patients not resected, none lived three years and fewer than five per cent were alive at one year. Eight per cent of patients admitted with the disease survived five years. The author concluded that pneumonectomy was the only curative treatment and that palliative resection relieved symptoms and prolonged life.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Lecture describing the author's clinical case series of resected and non-resected patients; not a formal study design
• Who was studied: 705 proved cases of bronchiogenic carcinoma treated by the author's group in New Orleans (Tulane; many at the Charity Hospital); dates not given
• Exposure: No asbestos or other occupational exposure was studied. The author gave the opinion, not tested in this series, that the increased incidence was due to increased cigarette use.
• Main results:
  • Of all 705 cases, 237 were resected, and 77.6 per cent of the resections were considered palliative
  • Of all 705 cases, 295 were obviously inoperable
  • In the 237 resected cases, bronchoscopy gave positive diagnostic results in 90 (38 per cent)
  • Cytologic examination of sputum gave a correct preoperative diagnosis in 80 per cent of the cases
  • Among the resections the author called 'so-called curative', 44 per cent of patients were alive at five years
  • In the non-resected groups, no patient lived as long as three years, and less than five per cent were alive at one year
  • Eight per cent of patients admitted to the hospital with bronchiogenic carcinoma survived five years
  • In the series, weight loss was present in 66 per cent, chest pain in 65 per cent, hemoptysis in 57 per cent and previous respiratory tract infection in 53 per cent
  • Four per cent of the author's patients had skin metastases
  • Sixteen patients with evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve involvement were resectable when explored
  • Four patients had seeding of tumor cells along the aspiration biopsy site
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that bronchiogenic carcinoma is common and should be suspected in every man past 40 with unexplained chest discomfort. In the author's view, pneumonectomy with removal of the regional and mediastinal lymph nodes is the only curative therapy, and palliative resections relieve symptoms and prolong life.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Bronchogenic Carcinoma, Carcinoma, Lung Cancer, Palliative Care, Bronchoscopy, Sputum, Cytology, Pneumonectomy.

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