Results of Surgical Treatment of Stage I Lung Cancer

We treated 112 patients with stage I lung cancer from 1973 through 1986. The overall 5-year survival rate was 59.5%. In T1N0M0 cases it was significantly better than in T2N0M0 cases (p< O. 05). There was no statistically significant difference in survival rate between patients who had complete dissection of mediastinal lymph node and those without it. The cause of death following resection of stage I lung cancer was mainly distant metastasis to the brain, lung or liver. Adjuvant therapy is recommended to improve the survival rate of patients with stage I lung cancer, especially those in the T2N0M0 classification.