[Surgical treatment for patients aged 80 years or older with primary lung cancer and differences in outcomes according to sex].

This study investigated the characteristics and long-term results of surgical treatment for primary lung cancer in patients aged 80 years or older, mainly based on difference between the sexes. Seventy-four patients aged 80 years or older who underwent surgical resection for primary lung cancer in our institute between 1986 and 2005 were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty-six patients were male and 18 were female. The median age of all patients was 81 years. Twenty-two males (39%) and 5 females (28%) had co-existing diseases preoperatively. Twenty-nine males (52%) and 17 females (94%) had adenocarcinoma. Forty-four males (79%) and 16 females (89%) had pathological stage I disease. Eleven males (20%) and 1 female (6%) developed postoperative complications that adversely affected the patient's morbidity and mortality. There was 1 surgical mortality (1.4%) and 1 hospital mortality (1.4%). The postoperative 5-year survival rate was 23% in 56 males and 58% in 18 females. The 5-year survival rate was 10% in 35 males underwent lobectomy, 58% in 20 males underwent wedge resection, and 70% in 15 females underwent lobectomy. These findings seems to indicate that long-term outcomes for males were worse than those for females. The data suggest that the indication of lobectomy should be more strictly limited in male patients than in female patients aged 80 years or older.