Seven hundred and twenty patients with primary bronchogenic carcinoma were operated on at the Pellenberg Clinic, K.U. Leuven, Belgium, between January 1, 1970, and January 1, 1985. Almost 45% of the resections were pneumonectomies and 47% were lobectomies. Mortality was 6.9% and 2.9%, respectively. Patients with squamous cell carcinoma (Stages I and II) who underwent lobectomy or pneumonectomy had an absolute 5-year survival rate of 52.8% (93/176); it was 21% (4/19) in the T3 N0/N1 subgroup. Patients with adenocarcinoma who underwent a lobectomy had a 5-year survival rate of 49% (26/53) in the T1/T2 N0 group and of 27% (3/11) in the T1/T2 N1 group. Only 13.6% (3/22) of patients survived 5 years if a pneumonectomy had to be performed. Only 1 in 22 N2 patients survived 5 years after resection.