Prognostic impact of home oxygen therapy on patients with resected non-small-cell lung cancer with interstitial lung disease.

Purpose: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) have a poor prognosis. The present study evaluated the prognostic impact of home oxygen therapy (HOT) in NSCLC patients with ILD.

Methods: Overall, 3099 consecutive patients underwent complete resection of stage IA to IIIA NSCLC at our institution between 2002 and 2016. ILD was diagnosed and categorized based on high-resolution computed tomography. The criteria for HOT included less than 90% resting oxygen saturation in the peripheral arteries and severe exertional dyspnea. We retrospectively compared the overall survival between ILD patients with and without HOT.

Results: ILD was observed in 150 (5%) patients. Seventeen (11%) patients needed HOT at discharge. The incidences of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern (p = 0.03) and blood loss (p < 0.01) were significantly higher in the patients requiring HOT than in those without HOT. Significantly more patients developed complications (p = 0.04) in the HOT group than in the non-HOT group, with three (18%) having acute exacerbations. The 3-year overall survival rate was significantly lower in the HOT patients than in those without HOT (28% vs. 63%, p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Patients requiring postoperative HOT showed a significantly poorer prognosis after complete resection than those without HOT. Therefore, the indication for surgery should be investigated cautiously in order to prevent the need for postoperative HOT.