Aim:

Lung cancer is one the most common malign tumors with poor survival. Our study evaluated the relationship between prognostic factors and survival.

Methods:

In this retrospective study, we included 111 patients with stage IIIB and IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who presented to our clinics between 2005 and 2006. We investigated the relationship of survival with tumor size and histological sub-groups, levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and hemoglobin(Hb), weight loss, performance status, age, and gender.

Results:

Nineteen female (17.1%) and 92 male (82.9%) patients with an average age of 59.56±8.98 years were included in the study. The number of patients with stage IV and stage IIIB disease were 72 (63.9%) and 39 (36.1%), respectively Histological subtypes were as follows: NSCLC (unspecified) -16 patients (14.4%), epidermoid carcinoma-45 (40.5%), adenocarcinoma - 41 (36.9%), large-cell carcinoma - 1(0.9%), neuroendocrine carcinoma - 1 (0.9%), adenosquamous cancer - 3 (2.7%), bronchoalveolar carcinoma - 2 (1.8%), carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation - 1 (0.9%) and pleomorphic carcinoma -1 patient (0.9%). No statistically significant relationship of survival with gender, age, tumor size, LDH, Hb, weight loss and performance status was observed. Only statistically significant relationship was found between survival and stage.

Conclusion:

In our study, elevated serum LDH, male gender, younger age, lower hemoglobin level, weight loss, performance status and tumor size were found to be associated with poor prognosis but the results were not statistically significant.

Keywords: Advanced stage lung cancer, prognostic factors, survival