We have performed surgical operations for 184 primary lung carcinomas over a 10 year period from December, 1979 to December, 1990 at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. We have reviewed 77 cases confirmed to be dead in the post-operative follow-up period among 184 cases. There were 68 males and 9 females [M: F=7.56: 1], with 76.62% ranging between 50 to 70 years old There were 50 cases[64.94%] of squamous cell carcinoma, 15[19.48%] of adenocarcinoma, 4[5.19%] of large cell carcinoma, 4[5.19%] of mixed cell carcinoma 3 [3.90%] of small cell carcinoma % 1 case of bronchoalveolar cell carcinoma. There were 25 cases[32.47%] in stage I, 12 [15.58%] in stage II 32 [41.56%] in stage IIIa and 8 [10.39%] in stage IIIb according to the new international staging system for lung cancer. The operative methods were left pneumonectomy in 38 cases, right pneumonectomy in 21, bilobectomy in 5, lobectomy in 12, and wedge resection in one case.ase. There were 9 operative mortalities; one case by bleeding, 5 cases by respiratory failure, one case by bleeding & renal failure, one case by empyema thoracis with BPF and one case by brain metastases. The actuarial mean survival length was 14.636$pm$18.188months overall and 16.441$pm$18. 627months in 68 cases excluding 9 operative deaths. The actuarial mean survival length was 18.568$pm$11.057 months in 43 squamous cell carcinomas, 14.385$pm$11.057 months in 14 adenocarcinomas, 10.250$pm$8.884months in 4 large cell carcinomas and 12.250$pm$17.193months in 4 mixed cell carcinomas. The actuarial mean survival length was 14.051$pm$16.963months in 59 pneumonectomy cases, 15.200$pm$12.478 months in 5 bilobectomy cases, 18.417$pm$26.026months in 12 lobectomy cases. The actuarial mean survival length was 28.952$pm$25.738months in 22 stage I cases, 19. 455$pm$16.723months in ll stage II cases, 8.633$pm$6.584months in 29 stage IIIa cases and 6. 167$pm$4.355months in 6 stage IIIb cases. The differences of actuarial mean survival length according to the stages were statistically significant [a=0.003]