Lung cancer surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis.
BACKGROUND
Few reports have described surgery for lung cancer in patients with liver cirrhosis. The objective of this study was to clarify the efficacy of surgical treatment and evaluate its postoperative outcome.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 17 patients between 1985 and 2005 who were found to have nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with liver cirrhosis. The grading of the severity of liver cirrhosis was made according to the Child-Pugh classification.


RESULTS
Four patients were classified as Child-Pugh class A, whereas another 13 patients were classified as Child-Pugh class B. Of these 17 patients, 11 underwent lobectomies, 3 underwent pneumonectomies, and 3 underwent wedge resections. The only patient who experienced hospital death (5.9%) was a male patient with Child-Pugh class B cirrhosis. There were five respiratory-associated postoperative complications including pneumonia, bleeding from the staple line, and prolonged air leak. The morbidity rate was 29.5%. Median duration of chest tube insertion was 6.8 days, and mean volume of pleural effusion was 1,015.0 mL at 3 days total postoperatively. A total of 9 deaths occurred during follow-up (3 from cancer, 4 from hepatic failure, 1 from cardiac causes, and 1 unknown). The overall survival was 87.8%, 57.0%, and 45.6% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. None of the patients experienced morbidity or mortality in Child-Pugh class A, but class B had 30.8% morbidity and 7.6% mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical treatment may be an acceptable and valuable approach for NSCLC patients who also have low severity liver cirrhosis.
Iwasaki
Akinori
A
Second Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan. akinori@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
Shirakusa
Takayuki
T
Okabayashi
Kan
K
Inutsuka
Koji
K
Yoneda
Satoshi
S
Yamamoto
Satosi
S
Shiraisi
Takeshi
T
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D002296:Carcinosarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications*; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000209:etiology; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome