Sublobar resection provides an equivalent survival after lobectomy in elderly patients with early lung cancer.
BACKGROUND
Sublobar resection is indicated for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer in patients with a perioperative risk associated with impaired medical conditions. This study was conducted to investigate the clinical impact of this procedure in the elderly.


METHODS
The patients who underwent complete resection for stage IA non-small cell lung cancer from 1990 and 2007 were enrolled (n = 764). Two age groups were defined as elderly (≥75 years) and younger (<75 years) patients. The 5-year survival, recurrence, and postoperative complications after sublobar resection were compared with those after standard lobectomy according to age group.


RESULTS
There were 133 elderly patients (79 standard lobectomies and 54 sublobar resections) and 631 younger patients (539 standard lobectomies and 92 sublobar resections). While the 5-year survival after sublobar resection was significantly inferior to that after standard lobectomy in the younger group (64.0% and 90.9%, respectively, p < 0.0001), however, no substantial difference was observed in the elderly (67.6% and 74.3%, p = 0.92). Locoregional recurrence rates were higher in patients after sublobar resection than those after standard lobectomy in both the elderly (11.1% vs 1.3%) and the younger (12.0% vs 1.5%) groups. No significant difference in postoperative complications was observed between the types of surgery in the elderly.


CONCLUSIONS
Sublobar resection for stage IA is considered to be an appropriate treatment in the elderly patients as this procedure provides an equivalent long-term outcome in comparison with lobectomy. A larger scale study with matching patients is necessary to confirm the noninferiority of sublobar resection in comparison with standard lobectomy in this population.
Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, Osaka, Japan. okami-ji@mc.pref.osaka.jp
Jiro
J
Okami
Yuri
Y
Ito
Masahiko
M
Higashiyama
Tomio
T
Nakayama
Toshiteru
T
Tokunaga
Jun
J
Maeda
Ken
K
Kodama
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies