The female gender has a positive effect on survival independent of background life expectancy following surgical resection of primary non-small cell lung cancer: a study of absolute and relative survival over 15 years.

Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for non-advanced lung cancer, but is encumbered with an overall relative poor long time prognosis. The purpose of this study was to examine if long time survival for patients operated for non-small cell lung cancer have changed over a 15 years period. We retrospectively studied hospital records of the 351 patients operated, with the intention to cure, for a primary non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC) in our department between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 2002.