The Prognosis of Small Cell Lung Cancer in Patients with Pulmonary Fibrosis

The purpose of this study was to assess the prognosis of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) based on the underlying pulmonary disease. A total of 204 patients with SCLC were reviewed and categorized into three groups: normal, emphysema and fibrosis. The median overall survival duration (OS) in patients with normal lungs (n=57), with emphysema (n=105) and fibrosis (n=42) was 21.3, 16.4 and 10.8 months (p=0.063). In limited-stage disease (LD), the median OS in patients with fibrosis (7.4 months) was shorter than normal (52.7 months) or emphysema patients (26.4 months) (p=0.034). In extensive-stage disease (ED), the median OS in patients with fibrosis (12.7 months) was not significantly different from normal (11.4 months) or emphysema patients (13.5 months) (p=0.600). Patients with fibrosis had a poorer prognosis than normal or emphysema patients in LD-SCLC, but the coexistence of pulmonary fibrosis did not affect the prognostic outcomes in ED-SCLC.