Prognostic Analysis of Primary Pulmonary Malignant Mesenchymal Tumors Treated Surgically

Unusual Presentation of Primary Pulmonary Sarcomatous Cancer With Brain Metastasis: A Case Report

Pulmonary sarcomatous carcinoma is a rare subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This cancer has very low survival rates primarily due to its aggressive nature and propensity for early spread to abdominal organs and the skeletal system. Remarkably, brain metastasis is observed at later stages of the disease, likely attributing to the high fatality rate after the disease progresses to the brain tissue. In our case, a 79-year-old female with a 45-pack-year smoking history sought medical attention at a primary care clinic due to a 3-month history of recurrent right-sided chest pain. Notably, she denied cough, sputum production, palpitations, or syncope. CT chest revealed a 6.8 x 3.5 cm mass in the right upper lobe (RUL) of the lung, with evidence of obstruction and infiltration of the adjacent chest wall. A PET scan indicated increased uptake in the mass and the presence of smaller pulmonary nodules in both lungs, and multiple nodules in the upper left arm, abdomen, right inguinal region, left thigh, and cecum. Importantly, no intracranial lesions were detected. A subsequent colonoscopy yielded normal findings. Histopathologic examination of the lung mass and cell markers was consistent with a diagnosis of sarcomatous carcinoma of the lung. Only three days after the initial clinic visit, the patient presented with numbness and tingling in her lower extremities. Brain MRI revealed multiple bilateral brain metastases accompanied by significant vasogenic edema, prompting treatment with steroid therapy and brain radiation therapy. Subsequent chemotherapy/immunotherapy with Nab-paclitaxel /carboplatin/atezolizumab was initiated but led to significant treatment-related toxicities. Consequently, the treatment plan was adjusted to a single dose of single-agent immunotherapy using pembrolizumab. Unfortunately, the patient chose to discontinue treatment and eventually passed away after 13 days of palliative care. Compared to other lung cancer subtypes, brain metastasis in sarcomatous lung cancer is infrequent due to its lower prevalence among all lung cancer cases. Furthermore, sarcomatous lung cancer has a reduced propensity for developing brain metastasis when compared to other forms of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Regrettably, the prognosis for sarcomatous lung cancer with brain metastasis remains generally unfavorable, signaling an advanced stage of the disease with limited treatment options.

SEER-Based Survival Nomogram (1998-2015) Based on 'Stage, Lymph Node Dissection, Tumor Size and Degree of Differentiation, and Therapies' for Prognosis of Primary Pulmonary Sarcoma

Objective: Primary pulmonary sarcoma (PPS) is very rare in terms of incidence, henceforth, the clinical evidence pertinent to the prognosis of PPS is limited. The aim of this study was to construct a nomogram for evaluating the overall survival (OS) of patients diagnosed with PPS based on the stage, lymph node dissection, tumor size and degree of differentiation, and therapies. Methods: A total of 515 patients diagnosed with PPS during the period of 1998 to 2015 were obtained from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database and randomly segregated into 'training group' and 'validation group' with a ratio of 7:3. Regression analysis was executed for the training group to obtain the independent factors influencing prognosis of PPS patients. A nomogram was constructed as per the results obtained through multivariate Cox regression analysis subsequently validated using C index, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and calibration curves. Results: Age, tumor size, histology type, lymph node surgery, summary stage and differentiation grade were independent factors affecting the prognosis. C index was 0.775 and 0.737 for both training group, and validation group, respectively. Areas under the ROC curve of 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS were 87.6 (95% CI: 83.8-91.3), 90.1 (95% CI: 86.2-94.0) and 90.6 (95% CI: 85.8-95.4), respectively, in training group. Area under the curve values of 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS in the validation group were 83.1 (95% CI: 75.8-90.5), 82.9 (95% CI: 73.2-92.7) and 87.0 (95% CI: 75.9-98.1), respectively. Based on the nomogram, patients were segregated into low-risk group and high-risk group (degree of risk: cutoff score 193). OS of low-risk group was significantly higher when compared to high-risk group (P < .001) in the training group and validation group. Radiotherapy was a risk factor for the low-risk group and adjuvant chemotherapy has not exhibited influence on OS pertinent to low-risk group. However, adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy both significantly improved the prognosis of PPS patients (P < .001) in the high-risk group. Conclusion: Constructed nomogram could have a strong predictive ability with higher accuracy for the prognosis of patients with PPS. Patients at low risk could not benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy, while the prognosis clearly improved in the high-risk populations treated with either radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

Clinical features and prognostic factors of pulmonary carcinosarcoma: A nomogram development and validation based on surveillance epidemiology and end results database

BACKGROUND

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma (PCS) is a rare but aggressive malignant disease in the lung. It is characterized by coexisting histologic elements of carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. This study aimed to comprehensively understand the clinical features of PCS and develop a nomogram for prognostic prediction of PCS patients.

METHODS

Data were collected from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database between 1975 and 2018. Propensity-score matching (PSM) was used to match the demographic characteristic of the PCS vs. pulmonary sarcoma (PS). Cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were the main endpoints of the survival of patients and were evaluated using the Kaplan Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression. We further randomly split enrolled PCS patients from SEER into the training and validation sets. All independent predictors for OS of the training set were integrated to create a predictive nomogram. The performance of the nomogram was determined by discrimination, calibration ability, clinical usefulness, and risk stratification ability both in the training and validation cohorts. In addition, the clinical data of PCS patients from the West China Hospital were also retrospectively analyzed by this model.

RESULTS

A total of 428 PCS patients and 249 PS patients were enrolled from SEER. Compared to pure PS, PCS was associated with significantly better survival in the unmatched cohorts, whereas non-significantly better survival after PSM. In subgroup analysis, PCS showed significantly worse survival than pure PS in subgroups among the race, marital status, and radiation treatment. A nomogram was constructed for PCS patients' survival prediction by combining the independent risk factors, including gender, stage, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The nomogram showed good discrimination, calibration, and predictive power in the training and validation sets. Risk stratification analysis indicated that the nomogram scores efficiently divided PCS patients into low and high-risk groups.

CONCLUSION

PCS is a rare malignant disease of the lung with distinct clinical features. It had a comparable survival compared with pure PS in the matched cohorts. In addition, a nomogram was developed and validated for predicting the OS in PCS patients.