Bronchogenic carcinoma in patients under 50 years old

Introduction  Lung cancer in young patients is increasing in frequency. Its clinical course seems to be more aggressive than in the elderly. Our objective is to assess the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma who underwent surgery at our department, comparing people younger than 50 years to older patients. Materials and methods  We present a retrospective study of 610 patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer operated on between 1997 and 2006. They were classified into two groups: under 50 (n=60) and equal to or over 50 (n=550). Results  The proportion of women, smokers and adenocarcinoma were significantly higher in young patients. There were no significant differences in survival rate between the two groups. Conclusions  In our series, despite the differences in sex, smoking history and histology, the behaviour of the disease is similar in both age groups.