Local tumor inflammation, lymph node metastasis, and survival of operated bronchus carcinoma patients.

Three hundred and fifty-three resection specimens with primary lung carcinomas were cut into serial sections, and the tumor volume was computed. Resected lymph nodes were cut into 0.3-mm serial sections and analyzed for metastasis. The inflammatory reaction of lung tissue was analyzed by grading the amount of inflammatory infiltrations of a complete tumor cross section. Survival of patients was evaluated by consulting the house physician every 3 months after surgical treatment. Percentage of specimens with severe inflammatory reaction of host tissue increased remarkably in tumors with a volume of 35-60 cm3. Percentage of patients with detectable lymph node metastasis increased with tumor volume but decreased at the tumor volume of 35-45 cm3. Mean tumor volume in patients with no detectable lymph node metastasis was increased if severe inflammatory response of host tissue existed. Survival of patients with severe inflammatory infiltrations was superior to survival of patients with no inflammatory infiltrations if grouped for tumor volume. Data indicated that inflammatory infiltrations in primary lung carcinoma may partly be related to the immunologic response of host tissue to tumor growth. Inflammatory infiltrations may delay tumor cell propagation into lymph nodes or may be even able to destroy small tumor cell agglutinations.