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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;25:449-455
© 2004 Elsevier Science NL
a Department of Thoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), Marseille, France
b Department of Thoracic Oncology, School of Medicine, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), Marseille, France
c Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), Marseille, France
d Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Marseille, UPRES EA 2201, IFR Jean Roche, Marseille, France
Received 17 August 2003; received in revised form 26 November 2003; accepted 1 December 2003.
* Corresponding author. Address: Department of Thoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), CHU Sud, 270 Blvd, Sainte Marguerite, F-13274 Marseille Cedex 9, France. Tel.: +33-491-744-680; fax: +33-491-744-590
e-mail: pascal-alexandre.thomas{at}mail.ap-hm.fr
| Abstract |
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Key Words: Completion pneumonectomy Lung cancer Operative risk Long-term survival
| 1. Introduction |
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate our experience with 55 consecutive completion pneumonectomies performed in cancer patients, with the aim of identifying factors that influence morbidity, immediate results and long-term survival.
| 2. Materials and methods |
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2.1. Definitions and inclusion criteria
The primary operation was defined as the first ipsilateral operation in which lung tissue was removed. Hospital mortality included all intraoperative and postoperative deaths during hospitalization or within 30 days after operation for patients who were discharged earlier. Tumor histology was classified according to the 2000 version of the Word Health Organization histologic typing of lung tumors. All lung cancers were staged with the 1997 UICC/AJCC TNM classification system.
Recurrent lung cancer and second primary lung cancer were discriminated using the following criteria: a second primary tumor was of different histology or if histology was the same, the disease-free interval between cancers was at least 2 years or the second cancer was in the different lobe but with no cancer in common lymphatic or extrapulmonary metastasis at the time of diagnosis.
Primary lung cancer was the indication for completion pneumonectomy if lung cancer had not been the indication for the primary operation or if completion pneumonectomy was performed during the same hospitalization as the primary operation because of a positive resection margin. The criteria for completion pneumonectomy with pulmonary metastases included reliable control of the primary tumor, absence of other sites of distant metastasis, no contralateral pulmonary metastases and reasonable disease-free interval between the most recent metastasectomy and the completion pneumonectomy.
2.2. Patients
There were 39 male and 16 female patients. Mean age at the time of primary operation was 57 years (1474). Mean age at the time of completion pneumonectomy was 62 years (2579). Preoperative evaluation included assessment of the respiratory, cardiac and renal functions. The patients were considered eligible for completion pneumonectomy if they had a predicted post-operative forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) of more than 1 l/s, estimated with spirometry exam and lung perfusion scan.
In the group with malignant disease all patients have been re-staged by total body computed tomographic scan, technetium bone scan and abdominal ultrasound. Mediastinoscopy was performed when computed tomographic scan findings showed mediastinal node involvement with a mean diameter wider than 1 cm. Preoperative bronchoscopic examination was performed for all patients.
The initial lung resection had been performed for malignant disease in 52 patients (95%), and benign lung disease in three (5%). The indications for primary operations were primary bronchogenic cancer in 46 patients (21 squamous cell carcinoma, 17 adenocarcinoma, 4 undifferentiated carcinoma, 2 bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, 2 adenosquamous carcinoma), lung metastasis in four (metastases of colorectal carcinoma, breast carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, and endometrial tumor) and other malignancies in two (hemangiopericytoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma). Benign lung diseases included pulmonary tuberculosis in two cases and emphysema in one.
The 55 first surgical procedures consisted of 15 right upper lobectomies, 14 left upper lobectomies, 9 right lower lobectomies, 5 left lower lobectomies, 3 bilobectomies, 1 middle lobectomy, 1 lingulectomy, 2 sleeve lobectomies, 2 right upper lobectomies with wedge resection, 1 right lower lobectomy with wedge resection, 1 right lower lobectomy with segmentectomy, and 1 wedge with chest wall resection.
The postoperative staging of the 46 lung cancer was stage I in 33 (10 T1 N0 M0 and 23 T2 N0 M0), stage II in 4 (1 T1 N1 M0 and 3 T2 N1 M0), stage IIIA in 2 (1 T3 N1 M0 and 1 T2 N2 M0), stage IIIB in 4 (2 T4 N0 M0 and 2 T4 N1 M0) and stage IV in 3 (1 T1 N0 M1, 1 T2 N0 M1 and 1 T4 N0 M1).
Twenty-one patients had postoperative adjuvant therapy, among whom seven had received radiation therapy, five chemotherapy and nine both treatments.
2.3. Statistics
Numbers were expressed as mean and range in brackets. The
2-test was only used if all expected frequencies were
5. Otherwise, Fischer's exact test was used. The KaplanMeier method was used to calculate the expected survival rates after completion pneumonectomy and the data included operative mortality. Statistical significance was calculated with the log-rank test and a P-value of the 0.05 or less was considered significant. Survival analysis was performed for the entire group of patients, for second primary cancer, metachronous cancer, metastasis and recurrence, for stage, and for interval from first resection to completion pneumonectomy for completely resected patients.
Follow-up was complete for all patients and was obtained from the patient physician, family, or from city hall registries.
| 3. Results |
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Of the 38 patients with a primary bronchogenic carcinoma, 26 had a metachronous lung cancer (68%), 6 had recurrent lung cancer (16%), 4 had a primary lung cancer (11%) and 2 had a positive bronchial margin at the first operation (5%).
Postoperative staging of the 38 lung cancer patients is shown in Table 1. In the group of cancer patients with non-malignant conditions, the indication for completion pneumonectomy was related to the occurrence of a bronchopleural fistula after lobectomy/bilobectomy in four cases (31%). In eight patients, completion pneumonectomy was done because of a clinical suspicion of cancer recurrence. In those cases, pathology disclosed destroying radio necrosis in three cases (23%), aspergilloma in two (15%), cytomegalovirus pneumonia in two (15%), and fibrothorax in one (8%). The remaining patient experienced massive hemoptysis and received surgery as a salvage procedure. In this group of patients, nine had had adjuvant therapy after the first lung cancer operation.
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Thirty-five completion pneumonectomies were performed on the right side (64%) and 20 on the left side (36%). Completion pneumonectomy was performed through a lateral thoracotomy in five patients (9%). All other operations were performed through a posterolateral thoracotomy (91%). The control of hilar components was achieved through an intrapericardial route in 49 patients (89%). Five patients had an extended resection (2 chest wall, 1 diaphragm, 1 subclavian artery and 1 superior vena cava).
The bronchial stump was hand-sutured in 13 patients (24%) with synthetic monofilament suture and closed with a mechanical stapler in 42 (76%). After closure of the proximal end, the bronchial stump was covered with viable tissue in 23 patients (42%), included pedicled mediastinal fat in 9 cases, pleural flap in 7, diaphragm flap in 5 and pedicled pericardium in 2. The pleural space was drained with a chest tube to balance the mediastinum, and removed 4872 h after the operation.
Complete resection (R0) was achieved in 38 of the 42 patients with a malignant disease (90%). Four remaining patients had a microscopic residual tumor found at specimen analysis (R1).
Thirty-two patients (58.2%) had major complications (21 of the 38 lung cancer, 55.3%; 9 of the 13 benign disease, 69.2%; and 2 of the 3 metastases, 66.7%) and were fatal in nine. These complications are detailed in Table 2. Prolonged mechanical ventilation of the remaining lung necessitated a postoperative tracheostomy in seven patients. Sixty-nine percent of the complications (24 of the 35) were observed after right completion pneumonectomy. Nine patients required rethoracotomy (bronchopleural fistula in seven and excessive postoperative bleeding with intrapleural clotting in two).
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Seventeen patients (30%) were transfused of an average of two cell packs (24) after completion pneumonectomy, for malignant diseases in 13 (31%) and benign diseases in 4 (31%).
Overall operative mortality was 16.4%11.9% for malignant diseases, 13.2% for lung cancer and 30.8% for benign disease (P=0.19). Operative mortality was 28.6% in patients who had received adjuvant therapy after the first operation and 8.8% in patients who had not (P=0.07). Operative mortality was 20% following right completion pneumonectomies and 10% following left procedures (P=0.46). Causes of death were multiple organ failure in five patients and heart failure in four.
Actuarial 3- and 5-years survival rates from the time of completion pneumonectomy were 48.4 and 35.2% for the entire group. Three- and 5-year survival for malignant diseases were 57.8 and 44%, 3-year survival for patients with benign disease was 17.9% (P<0.05; Fig. 1) . Three- and 5-year survival were 56.9 and 43.4% for patients with lung cancer: 50 and 50% for patients with primary lung cancer, 55.7 and 44.6% for patients with a metachronous cancer, and 58.3 and 29.2% for patients with recurrent lung cancer (P=0.81; Fig. 2) . Three- and 5-year survival for patients with stage I lung cancer was 78.8 and 67.5%, 33.3% in stage II, 60% in stage IIIA, 51.9 and 34.6% in stage IIIB, and 0% in stage IV (P=0.1).
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| 4. Discussion |
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The procedure is likely to carry a higher risk of operative mortality and morbidity than does standard pneumonectomy. The first report detailing the results of completion pneumonectomy have been that of McGovern and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in 1988, who witnessed of an overall operative mortality rate of 12.4% [2]. Since then, various authors and institutions reported operative mortality rates ranging from 0 to 15.2% for malignant diseases, and from 0 to 35.3% for benign disease, balancing an actuarial 5-year survival from 18.3 to 44.5% (Table 4). Our operative mortality rate for completion pneumonectomy was 11.9% for malignant diseases and 30.8% in non-malignant conditions, in a surgical cohort in which the 5-year survival rate was 35.2%, thus in the range of those previously published data.
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Six patients of the present series underwent early completion pneumonectomy, within few weeks after the primary operation, because of the presence of invaded bronchial margins (n=2), or the occurrence of a bronchial fistula (n=4) following lesser resections. Although such cases have been included in other series customarily, the technique-related risk of the procedure is probably not comparable to late completion pneumonectomy since no adhesions are present, rethoracotomy is simple, and all structures have been already dissected. Conversely, late completion pneumonectomy is a technically demanding operation, requiring in almost all cases an extrapleural and intrapericardial dissection through a wide approach. This is illustrated indirectly by the proportion of patients requiring blood transfusions (30% in our experience). Unfortunately, this outcome measure is seldom reported in the literature [18].
Major complications occurred in 58.2% of our patients, among which cardio-pulmonary complications were the most common. This morbidity was observed mainly in patients operated for benign diseases, and after right-sided procedures. Indeed, 69% of major complications developed after right completion pneumonectomies, with an operative mortality rate of 20%, twice as high as that of left procedures. These features are commonly reported following standard pneumonectomy and there is no rationale to hope that it could be different in the setting of completion pneumonectomy.
Bronchopleural fistula was a fearing event. It occurred in nearly 13% of our patients, whereas rates reported in the literature range from 2.7 to 17.2% (Table 4). Bronchopleural fistula has been observed after right completion pneumonectomy in the vast majority of the cases, three times more frequently than for left-sided operations. We failed to identify any technical variable correlated with its occurrence, even if stapled bronchial closure and routine reinforcement seemed to be protective. We prefer the stapled technique for the bronchial closure because of its simplicity and safety. Although we observed a higher incidence of bronchopleural fistula in manually sutured bronchi than in stapled bronchi, the small number of sutured bronchi did not allow us to draw firm conclusions about the benefits of the stapled technique. Furthermore, the hand-fashioned technique was performed in almost all cases in those problematic cases where the suture needed to be performed very close to the carina, a well-known situation placing the patient at risk of stump leakage. Adjuvant therapy following the first lung resection was associated with a higher incidence of bronchopleural fistula (24 vs. 6%; P=0.09, Fischer's test), and a higher mortality (28 vs. 9%, P=0.07). These trends have been already emphasized previously [19,20].
In the present series we have observed a statistically significant difference in survival in cancer patients according to the clinical situation, malignant versus non-malignant, paradoxically detrimental to those patients operated on for non-malignant conditions. Respective survival curves showed that the difference was not due to the higher operative mortality exclusively, but continued along with time. Five-year overall survival rate for patients with bronchogenic carcinoma was 43.3%, with no dramatically different behaviors of patients operated for primary cancer, recurrent cancer, or metachronous cancer, thus reflecting a judicious patients selection. In contrast, in patients with metachronous or recurrent tumors, a disease-free interval <2 years seemed to influence adversely the overall outcome, as emphasized by Martini and Melamed [21].
To conclude, indications for completion pneumonectomy in cancer patients rely on various situations. The best ones probably include left-sided elective surgery for a metachronous cancer occurring >2 years after the treatment of an initial bronchogenic carcinoma, managed by surgery alone at that time. It remains, however, a technically demanding procedure, which carries an increased operative mortality and morbidity. Blood loss, bronchial fistula, and cardiopulmonary compromise dominate the spectrum of possible complications. Only those situations where a good prospect for long-term survival exist, justify the higher risk.
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