Does liver cirrhosis have any impact on patients with lung cancer after surgical resection?

Abstract

A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was: does cirrhosis have any impact on patients with lung cancer after surgical resection? Altogether, 134 papers were found using the reported search, of which 6 cohort studies represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers were tabulated. Five of the cohort studies found that liver cirrhosis was correlated to higher postoperative mortality after lung cancer surgery, 4 also showed a correlation with higher postoperative morbidity and 2 of them found that patients with Child grade B or above experienced a higher risk of morbidity and mortality than those with Child grade A. Four of the cohort studies found that cirrhotic patients had poorer long-term survival, with 2 studies showing patients with Child grade B or above having a worse overall survival than those with Child grade A. Therefore, we conclude that liver cirrhosis (especially Child grade B or above) imposed a significant unfavourable impact on both short-term and long-term outcomes for patients intended for lung cancer surgery.

Keywords: Liver cirrhosis; Lung cancer; Outcomes; Surgery.