Background and objective Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma is a rare histologic subtype of non-small cell lung cancer. The effective treatment for this disease has not well defined due to its extremely low morbidity. This study explores the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of 38 patients with PSC, so as to provide some clues for its diagnosis and treatment. Methods The study enrolled 38 patients with PSC that were diagnosed with histology or cytology in our hospital between January 2000 and December 2013. We retrospectively analyzed general clinical characteristics, smoking history, tumor size, TNM staging, pathology, immunohistochemistry, diagnostic method, treatment and prognosis. We used SPSS 19.0 statistical software and Kaplan-Meier method to analyze our data. Results Patients in this study were aged from 26 to 76 years old (the median age was 57.5 years old). Among all of them, the male to female ratio was 4:1, and 81.6% of patients had smoking history. Cough and hemoptysis were the most common primary symptoms. The median survival was 21 months, while one-year survival rate, three-year survival rate and five-year survival rate were 68.4%, 31.6% and 18.4% respectively. Tumor size, TNM staging, distant metastasis and surgery therapy were associated with the prognosis of patients. Conclusion Patients with PSC present with no special symptoms generally. According to our study, factors that affect patients’ prognosis include tumor size, TNM staging, distant metastasis and surgery. Complete resection is the key treatment for PSC patients, but comprehensive chemoradiotherapy needs further exploration in evidence-based medicine. Biological target therapy may give new insight into treatment for PSC.

DOI: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2015.09.02

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma; Clinical characteristics; Biological targeted therapy; Surgery; Distant metastasis; Prognosis