Lung carcinomas with a basaloid pattern: a study of 90 cases focusing on their poor prognosis

¹ Lung Cancer Research Group, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U823, Institut A. Bonniot, 38706 La Tronche, France; and Pole de Médecine Aigue Communautaire. Pneumologie, Hôpital Albert Michalon, BP217 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France 33 476 76 5834
² Lung Cancer Research Group, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U823, Institut A. Bonniot, 38706 La Tronche, France; and Département d'Anatomie et Cytologie Pathologiques, Hôpital Albert Michalon, BP217 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France 33 476 76 7575
³ Pole de Médecine Aigue Communautaire. Pneumologie, Hôpital Albert Michalon, BP217 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France 33 476 76 5834
⁴ Département d'Anatomie et Cytologie Pathologiques, Hôpital Albert Michalon, BP217 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France 33 476 76 7575
⁵ Lung Cancer Research Group, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U823, Institut A. Bonniot, 38706 La Tronche, France; and Département de chirurgie thoracique, cardiovasculaire et endocrinienne. Hôpital Albert Michalon, BP217 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: DMoro.pneumo{at}chu-grenoble.fr.

	Abstract

Lung carcinomas with a basaloid pattern (BC) are classified as either basaloid variant of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) or as variant of large cell carcinomas (LCC) depending on the presence of a squamous component. In a previous study of 37 cases, we showed that BC presented a shorter median and overall survival.

In order to confirm its clinical significance in a larger series, 90 BC, including 46 basaloid variants of LCC and 44 basaloid variants of SCC, were compared with 1328 other Non-Small cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC) with regard to clinical features and survival.

The survival of basaloid variants of large cell carcinomas and SCC was comparable. Median and overall survival were significantly lower for BC than for NSCLC in stage I–II patients, with a median survival of 29 and 49 months respectively, and 5-year survival rates of 27 % and 44% for BC and NSCLC (p=0.01). When disease-specific survival was considered, BC had a shorter survival than NSCLC (p=0.014) and SCC (p=0.005).

Basaloid pattern confers a poor prognosis in NSCLC, especially in stage I–II patients, suggesting that BC is not only a variant of SCC or large cell carcinoma but is a unique entity with a significantly poor prognosis.