Surgical therapy of lung cancer.

A total of 1,615 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of lung cancer were treated at Roswell Park Memorial Institute between 1963 and 1974. Particular emphasis was given in this review to the 295 patients that underwent surgical resection of their primary lung lesion. Factors such as histology, type of resection, sex, age, staging, and degree of dissemination were considered possible influences on survival. The risks and benefits of intentional reductive or palliative surgery are considered along with the risk related to thoracotomies performed for diagnostic purposes.