Resection of typical bronchial carcinoid was carried out in 203 patients. The average age was 48 years, and the sex distribution was approximately equal. Bronchoscopy was the most definitive diagnostic procedure, even though 15% of the tumors were located in the segmental bronchus or beyond. Conservative resection including local removal of the lesion was the treatment of choice, but distal suppuration and location of the tumor necessitated pneumonectomy in 54 (27%) of the patients. The incidence of metastasis was 5% (11 patients), and the overall hospital mortality was 3%. Of patients who qualified for follow-up, 94% survived 5 years, and of those who were asymptomatic preoperatively, 98% survived 5 years. The 10- and 25-year survival rates for the group as a whole were 87 and 66%, respectively.
Nine occult carcinomas of the thyroid were found in 157 autopsies of deceased residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, a prevalence of 5.7%. This rate is significantly lower than that reported from a previous autopsy series from Hiroshima-Nagasaki, Japan, in which similar pathologic methods and diagnostic criteria were used. Sex ratio, age distribution, and radiation exposure are considered not to explain this difference. A true difference between the Japanese and American populations with respect to the prevalence of occult thyroid carcinoma is the most likely explanation of these findings.