Background: Complex surgical resection and reconstruction for rare thoracic cancers (RTCs) represent a major challenge, given their very low frequency, extreme variability of presentation, multi-modality treatment options and inadequate outcome prediction. We analysed the experience of a tertiary referral centre on a consecutive series of patients with thoracic germ cell tumours, thymomas and sarcomas, with the aim of reporting the long-term outcome by cancer type and complexity of surgical procedures.
Methods: From Jan 2003 to Dec 2018, 768 surgical procedures were performed with curative intent on 644 RTC patients. Study endpoints were: post-operative hospital stay (Pod), 30-day and 90-day mortality, 5-year and 10-year overall survival (OS). Median follow-up of alive patients was 7.2 years.
Results: Median Pod was 7 days, with a 1.2% 30-day and 2.9% 90-day mortality. OS was 90.8% at one year, 74.2% at five years and 62.8% at 10 years. Ten-year OS was 73.0% in low, 65.3% in intermediate, and 55.6% in high complexity score (Log-rank tests p<0.0001); 66.6% in patients with one or two reconstructions and 46.4% in patients with three or more reconstructions (p<0.0001); 46.0% with vascular and 50.0% with chest wall reconstruction; 71.8% in germ cell tumours, 64.6% in thymoma and 51.3% in sarcoma (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Complex surgical resection and reconstruction was associated with acceptable 90-day mortality and good 10-year survival in all RTC types. A predictive score based on surgical complexity and cancer type can help the clinical decision making.
Keywords: 10-years survival; Rare thoracic cancer; complex surgical resection; post-operative mortality.