Impact of previous cardiovascular surgery on postoperative morbidity and mortality after major pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of previous cardiovascular surgery on the postoperative morbidity and mortality following major pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS

Medical records of 227 patients, who underwent major pulmonary resection for NSCLC from 2003 to 2012 at our department, were reviewed retrospectively. Thirty-one patients with a mean age of 65.8 years had previous cardiovascular surgery (group A) including coronary artery revascularization in 11 patients, peripheral arterial revascularization in 6 patients, carotis endarterectomy in 9 patients, and combined coronary artery revascularization and carotis endarterectomy in 5 patients, whereas 167 patients (mean age = 62.0 years) had no cardiovascular comorbidity (group B). Twenty-nine patients with nonsurgically treated cardiovascular comorbidity were excluded from this study.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in overall postoperative morbidity (22.6 % in group A vs. 19.2 % in group B) and mortality (no mortality in group A vs. 2.4 % in group B) between both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Major pulmonary resections for NSCLC can be performed safely in patients with previous cardiovascular surgical history who are fulfilling the common cardiopulmonary criteria of operability. Operative risk in this subpopulation is comparable to that in patients without cardiovascular comorbidity.