LUNG CANCER AND SURGERY
Authors: HARVEY WOLINSKY
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1969)

Letters and Comments1 November 1969LUNG CANCER AND SURGERYHARVEY WOLINSKY, M.D., PH.D.HARVEY WOLINSKY, M.D., PH.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-71-5-1026 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptTo the Editor:The article by Weiss, Cooper, and Boucot entitled "Operative Mortality and 5-year Survival Rates in Men with Bronchogenic Carcinoma" (Ann. Intern. Med. 71: 59, 1969) contains several disturbing implicatons and conclusions. To start with, the high rate of exploration without resection (37%) and the extremely high percentage of all patients with cancer who underwent surgery (421 out of 629, or 67%) indicate that the staffs of the hospitals included in this study have an unusually aggressive approach toward this disease. True, the patient population could be an unusually favorable one for surgery, but alas, the miniscule Methods...References1. DELAURESTRASBERG NCSM: The rationale of intensive preoperative investigation in bronchogenic carcinoma. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 51: 391, 1966. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. BELL JW: Abdominal exploration in one-hundred lung carcinoma suspects prior to thoracotomy. Ann. Surg. 167: 199, 1968. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. SMARTHILTON JC: Radiotherapy of cancer of the lung. Results in a selected group of cases. Lancet 1: 880, 1956. CrossrefGoogle Scholar4. DEELEY TJ: The treatment of carcinoma of the bronchus. Brit. J. Radiol. 40: 801, 1967. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. GUTTMANN RJ: Effectiveness of radiotherapy in explored inoperable carcinoma of the lung. Bull. NY Acad. Med. 45: 657, 1969. MedlineGoogle Scholar6. GUTTMANN RJ: Results of radiation therapy in patients with inoperable carcinoma of the lung whose status was established at exploratory thoracotomy. Amer. J. Roentgen. 93: 99, 1965. Google Scholar1. BIGNALLMOON JRAJ: Survival after lung resection for bronchial carcinoma. Thorax 10: 183, 1955. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. MORRISONDEELEYCLELAND RTJWP: The treatment of carcinoma of the bronchus: a clinical trial to compare surgery and supervoltage radiation therapy. Lancet 1: 683, 1963. CrossrefGoogle Scholar3. ROSWITPATNORAPPVEINBERGSFEDERSTUHLBARGREID BMERABJCP: The survival of patients with inoperable lung cancer: a large-scale randomized study of radiation therapy versus placebo. Radiology 90: 688, 1968. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. KRANT MJ: The question of irradiation therapy in lung cancer. JAMA 195: 471, 1966. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Bronx Municipal Hospital Center and Department of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, N. Y. 10461 PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 1 November 1969Volume 71, Issue 5_Part_1Page: 1026-1028KeywordsLung and intrathoracic tumorsMortalitySurgery Issue Published: 1 November 1969 PDF downloadLoading ...