The postrecurrent survival of 215 patients who had undergone a complete resection of non-small-cell lung cancer was examined on the basis of various factors, which included gender (female, male), age (< 65, > or = 65), the pathologic stage of disease at the time of operation (I, II, III), histologic type (squamous cell, nonsquamous cell carcinoma), type of operation (pneumonectomy, other), the selection of adjuvant treatment before recurrence (no treatment, mild chemotherapy, intensive chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy), recurrent site (local, distant), and the disease-free interval (< or = 365, > or = 365 days). A univariate analysis of the postrecurrent survival showed that the significant factors influencing the survival consisted of gender, pathologic stage, recurrent site, selection of adjuvant treatment, and the disease-free interval. Namely, female patients or patients who had pathologic stage I disease, local recurrence, no adjuvant treatment, or a disease-free interval of more than 365 days would be expected to have a prolonged survival after recurrence. Of the five significant factors, only two factors (gender and the selection of the adjuvant treatment) were found to be predominant postrecurrent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. These observations suggest that the biologic behavior of a recurrent tumor may therefore be influenced by gender and adjuvant treatment before recurrence.