Objectives: Although 30-day mortality rate is adapted to evaluate perioperative mortality after surgery, whether 90-day mortality rate adequately evaluates perioperative mortality remains unknown. Therefore, we analyzed 30- and 90-day mortality rates after pulmonary resection in patients with primary lung cancer.
Methods: A total of 2207 pulmonary resections for primary lung cancer performed between 1996 and 2010 at the Aichi Cancer Center Hospital were analyzed and divided into two groups of almost equal number: the early period group (1070 patients, 1996-2004) and the late period group (1137 patients, 2005-2010). Sixty-six and 34 patients died within a year during the early and late periods, respectively. The causes of death (recurrence, bleeding, sudden death, respiratory failure, and adverse event of chemotherapy), and 30- and 90-day mortality rates were investigated.
Results: The 30-/90-day mortality rates in the early and late period groups were 0.56/0.75 and 0.35/0.79 %, respectively. The postoperative survival days of 75 patients who died from recurrence within 1 year after pulmonary resection and 7 patients from bleeding or sudden death were more than 91 days and <30 days, respectively. The median postoperative survival of patients who died from respiratory failure was 67 days (range 20-142 days) in the early period and 100 days (range 47-149 days) in the late period. In the late period, it was difficult to assess perioperative mortality of pulmonary complications with 30-day mortality.
Conclusions: A risk assessment of perioperative mortality after pulmonary resection should be performed using the 30- and 90-day mortality.