Lobar lung resection in elderly patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma: impact of cardiac comorbidity on surgical outcome.

Principles: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of cardiac comorbidity on the perioperative morbidity and mortality after lobar lung resection for lung cancer in patients aged 70 years and older.

Methods: The medical records of all 68 patients ≥70 years, who underwent lobar lung resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from 2003 to 2011 at our department, were reviewed retrospectively. Twenty-two patients with a mean age of 76.3 years had cardiac comorbidities (Group A) including previous cardiac operations in 4 patients, previous myocardial infarction in 5 patients, previous coronary stent insertion in 3 patients, medically treated coronary artery disease in 10 patients and medically treated valvular heart disease in 2 patients whereas 46 patients (mean age = 74.5 years) had no previous cardiac history (Group B).

Results: There were no significant differences in postoperative morbidity (13.6% in Group A vs. 17.4% in Group B) between both groups. No in-hospital mortality was observed in both groups.

Conclusion: In our experience lobar lung resections for NSCLC in elderly patients with cardiac comorbidity seem to be a safe therapy option for this increasing subpopulation. Though, our retrospective data with the small number of study objects require further confirmation in larger prospective trials.