Background: We retrospectively compared sleeve lobectomy (SL) and pneumonectomy (PN) for lung cancer in terms of surgical complications and postoperative disease-free survival, as well as incidence and pattern of recurrent disease.
Methods: From 1977 to 1993. 29 patients with primary lung cancer underwent sleeve resection at our institution. The pneumonectomy group consisted of 29 cases that had been selected during the same period according to the following criteria: (1) in a tumor located in the upper lobe, there was no invasion within 1 cm from both the carina and the orifice of the middle and the lower lobe bronchus, whereas in a tumor located in the middle or lower lobe, there was no invasion within 1 cm of the orifice of the upper bronchus, (2) there was no invasion to the trunks of the pulmonary vessels, (3) there was no invasion to any other lobes, (4) a complete resection was achieved.
Results: No differences were observed between the two groups regarding stage, histological population, or age. The incidence of postoperative complications was 13.7% in the SL group (2 cases each of pneumonia and arrythmia), and 24.1% in the PN group (3 bronchopulmonary fistula, 2 bleeding, 1 instance each of arrythmia and acute cardiac failure, and 2 operation-related deaths) (P < 0.05). The 3-year disease-free survival was 65.7% in SL, 58.8% in PN (no statistical significance in the log-rank test). Recurrent disease was observed in the local regions of three patients in the SL group and six patients in the PN group, and at distant organs of six patients in the SL group and seven in the PN group.
Conclusions: These findings thus suggest that as a curative treatment, lobectomy with bronchoplasty may be a safer procedure than pneumonectomy for lung cancer.