Scar Carcinoma of the Lung: Fact or Fantasy?

Abstract Previous reports on lung surgery have considered scar carcinoma of the lung as a separate clinical entity associated with a fairly favorable prognosis. The clinical and morphological characteristics of peripheral adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous cell carcinoma in 75 patients and of scar carcinoma in 19 individuals were compared. Location of the lesions, sex distribution, patient age, and tumor size were similar for both groups. Although the extent of vascular invasion was also similar, lymph node involvement was greater in the group with scar carcinoma. Five-year survival was far less in the scar carcinoma group (5%) than in the adenocarcinoma (22%) or adenosquamous cell carcinoma (28%) groups. The characteristics of scar carcinoma of the lung appear to be no different than those of similar cell types without scarring.