Hospital volume: operative morbidity, mortality and survival in thoracotomy for lung cancer. A Spanish multicenter study of 2994 cases.

Introduction: It has been hypothesized that medical procedures performed in high-volume units carry less risk and achieve a better outcome.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the number of interventions and the operative morbidity, mortality and long-term survival in the surgery of bronchogenic carcinoma (BC).

Patients And Method: Prospective, multicenter Spanish study was conducted in 19 departments of thoracic surgery on 2994 patients operated on consecutively with the aim of curing BC.