2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istinye University Medical Faculty, Liv Hospital Ulus, Istanbul, Turkey
3Department of Thoracic Surgery, University of Health Sciences, Yedikule Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Center, Istanbul, Turkey
4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey DOI : 10.26663/cts.2020.0001 Viewed : 4977 - Downloaded : 1901 Background: Pulmonary artery reconstruction can be preferred as an alternative to pneumonectomy, to spare the functional lung parenchyma in lung cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the morbidity, mortality and survival rates of the patients who had undergone pulmonary artery reconstruction due to central non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and also to compare their data with those of the patients who had undergone pneumonectomy.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 88 patients who underwent pneumonectomy (group PN) and 20 patients who underwent standard or sleeve lobectomy (double sleeve) with pulmonary artery reconstruction (group PAR) for NSCLC with stages I-IIIA between January 2005 and December 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. The morbidity and mortality rates, durations of the hospital and intensive care unit stay, 5-year and mean survival rates of the homogenous patient groups were analyzed comparatively.
Results: The postoperative morbidity rate was 30% in the PAR group and 53% in the PN group (p = 0.77). The bronchial complication rate was 0% in the PAR group and 15% in the PN group (p = 0.04). The 30-day mortality rate was 5% in the PAR group and 5.6% in the PN group (p = 1). The median follow-up period for all patients was 31.5 months (range: 0-84 months) and total 5-year survival was 56.2%. In early-stage tumors (stage I + stage II), total 5-year survival rate was 64% in the PAR group and 60% in the PN group (p = 0.7). In late-stage tumors (stage III), total 5-year survival rate was 52% in the PAR group and 30% in the PN group (p = 0.04). No local recurrence was observed in either group during the follow-up period.
Conclusions: In central lung tumors, to avoid pneumonectomy, major anatomical lung resection with pulmonary artery reconstructions can safely be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. Oncological outcomes of pulmonary angioplasty procedures regarding survival and local recurrence are not worse than those of pneumonectomy. Even in advanced stage lung tumors, these procedures can be an alternative to more radical operations such as pneumonectomy.
Keywords : pulmonary artery resection, pulmonary angioplasty, lung cancer, bronchoplasty, pneumonectomy