title: Surgery after radiochemotherapy for stage III lung cancer: postoperative complications and late results.
abstract: Fifty-seven stage III lung cancer patients underwent radiochemotherapy and subsequent surgery. Forty radical (R-), six non-radical, and eleven exploratory operations were performed. Pneumonia (five cases), pulmonary insufficiency (one case), bronchial fistula (one case) were the major non-fatal complications. Four deaths due to adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or pulmonary embolism occurred. Sixty percent of the 10 patients who had no viable tumor at operation survived 3 years, as well as 41% of those who achieved a complete remission by resection and 11% of those with residual disease (R+) after operation. However, the 1- and 2-year survival rates were similar. The main pattern of failure in R- and R+ patients was extra- and intra-RT-field progression, respectively. A slightly higher rate of postoperative complications, with respect to current practice, was observed. However, data lead to argument on the improvement of locoregional control and long-term survival following radical surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tavecchio
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ravasi
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Bedini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gramaglia
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Milani
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome