Aim:

The most effective treatment for lung cancer is surgery. Morbidity rates remained almost constant over the years. However, morbidity rates have started to decline with better management of preoperative and postoperative procedures. We examined the causes and results of postoperative morbidity and mortality after resection surgery by years.

Methods:

Anatomical lung resections performed in our clinic from January 2013 to December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who underwent bilateral lung resections and those with comorbid infections, such as abscess and tuberculosis, were excluded.

Results:

A total of 907 patients were included in the study. 79% of the patients were male and the median age was 56 years. The increase in malignant pulmonary resection rates by years was statistically significant (p<0.001). It was found that video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy rates increased (p<0.001), thoracotomy lobectomy (p=0.006) and pneumonectomy rates decreased (p<0.001). The rates of atrial fibrillation, prolonged air leakage and pneumonia were statistically significantly decreased (p=0.004, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) and no change was observed in mortality rates (p=0.123).

Conclusion:

Our study showed that postoperative morbidity was significantly reduced in lung cancer. A recent increase in VATS lobectomy procedures may have an effect on this result, however, the relationship was not statistically significant. Thus, the increase in the success rates can be attributed to the improved experience of the team in our hospital in years as well as being a specialty hospital for chest diseases and thoracic surgery.

Keywords: Thoracic surgery, lung cancer, morbidity, mortality, postoperative complication treatment