Preoperative attitudes, fears and expectations of non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Knowing preoperative fears in cancer patients should help us to overcome perioperative psychological problems. One hundred and three patients underwent a semistructured interview addressing the effect of preoperative information on disease and forthcoming operation, attitude towards operation, expectations for the postoperative time and family support. Evaluation was performed by three psychologists by qualitative structured content analysis according to Mayring.

Video-assisted thoracic surgery for pleural empyema.

Background: After we gained considerable experience with video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and became familiar with its advantages, we started to use it for the treatment of thoracic empyema.

Methods: We treated 130 patients with pleural empyema in whom chest tube drainage and antibiotic therapy had failed to produce a satisfactory result. Six months after surgery they had clinical and radiologic assessment and spirometry.

The natural history of recurrence after bronchoplastic procedures for non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: The natural course of recurrence after bronchoplastic procedures for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been described.

Methods: Sex, age, tnm-stage, histology, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, disease-free interval (months), exact localisation of tumour recurrence, time between first and second recurrence (months), survival after first and second recurrence (months), causes of death were retrospectively recorded in 83 patients operated between December 1993 and July 2001.

Results: One patient was lost to follow-up, five resections were nonradical.

Risk factors for the development of postoperative complications after bronchial sleeve resection for malignancy: a univariate and multivariate analysis.

Background: This study was designed to identify risk factors responsible for postoperative complications after bronchoplastic procedures.

Methods: Excluding sleeve pneumonectomies between January 1994 and December 2001, 108 patients underwent bronchoplastic procedures for bronchial malignancy. Prospectively documented data were age, gender, side, type of bronchial reconstruction, extended resection, histology, TNM stage, diseased lobe, and bronchial tumour occlusion.