Clinical features of a population-based series of patients with lung cancer presenting with a solitary nodule.

Abstract

We assessed survival in a population-based series of patients with lung cancer presenting with a solitary nodule. Using a population-based cancer registry, we identified 674 incident lung cancer cases in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, from 1977 to 1981. Both clinical information and chest roentgenograms were reviewed to identify 83 solitary nodule cases and 479 nonsolitary nodule cases. Chest roentgenograms were unavailable for 112. There were 83 patients with solitary nodules (55 men and 28 women), and adenocarcinoma was the predominant cell type. Overall, 5-yr survival was significantly greater for the patients with solitary nodules (24%) than for those with nonsolitary nodules (8%) (p less than 0.001). Of the 41 patients with solitary nodules who had surgery and Stage I disease, 49% lived 5 yr. In contrast, none of the 39 who did not have surgery lived longer than 2 yr. Our results imply that the varying survival described in previous series of patients with solitary nodules reflects different patient selection criteria.