Clinicoradiological outcomes of 33 cases of surgically resected pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma: correlation with prognostic indicators

Objectives To retrospectively review the clinical, radiological and pathological data in patients who underwent surgical resection for pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma (PC), and to analyse the prognostic predictors of survival. Methods The data were retrospectively examined for 33 consecutive patients (28 males and five females) who had undergone surgical resection for pulmonary PC. Cox’s proportional-hazards model was used to analyse the prognostic predictors of survival. Results The size of the tumours ranged from 1.1 to 12.0 cm (mean 5.4 cm). The majority (26) of the tumours were located at the lung periphery, five tumours had cavitation, two had calcification and 14 had peritumoral ground-glass opacity. Most of the tumours showed heterogeneous enhancement and contained a low-density area (LDA) within the tumour. The 5-year overall survival of surgically resected PC was 36 % (standard error = 0.093). A multivariate analysis revealed the LDA grade [hazard ratio (HR), 2.019], pathological stage (HR, 7.552) and pathological N factor (HR, 0.370) to be significant predictors of a poorer prognosis. Conclusions A greater component of LDA within the tumour on contrast-enhanced CT is associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with PC. Key Points • PC has a poorer prognosis than other conventional NSCLC. • The five-year OS of surgically resected PC was 36 %. • A greater component of LDA on contrast-enhanced CT suggests a poorer prognosis.