Prognosis after resection of non-small cell lung cancer of the right middle lobe.

In a previous study at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, it was noted that in patients whose resected non-small-cell lung cancer had originated in the right middle lobe, the prognosis was much worse than when it had originated in any other lobe. A review of a longer period and exclusion of patients who might introduce a bias resulted in a group of 18 patients whose fate was compared to the findings reported in other comparable series. Three out of those are alive at 8-96 months after operation. Five-year survival was 22% (30% counting only survivors of the operations). These findings indicate that the results of surgery for non-small-cell carcinoma of the right middle lobe fall within the lower range of lung cancer generally.