Lung cancer in patients aged 50 years and younger: clinical characteristics, treatment details and outcome

The aims of this retrospective study are to review the clinical characteristics, treatment details and outcome of patients aged 50 years or younger diagnosed with lung cancer (small cell and non-small-cell). Over a period of 34 months, 497 lung cancer patients were treated at the Liverpool Hospital Cancer Therapy Centre from which 37 (7.4%) were aged 50 or younger. Adenocarcinoma was predominant histological subtype (32%). Almost 90% of patients were smokers. Median survival following diagnosis was 12 months, with 70 % having died by the close of the study. The clinical characteristics and outcomes of young patients (10 % of all lung cancer patients) in this study were comparable to other similar series reporting surgery only, radiotherapy or multimodality treatment. Lung cancer proved to be lethal as it remain, in the most part, incurable. Copyright (1999) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd