National Trends and Outcomes of Segmentectomy in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database.

Background: Segmentectomy is gaining popularity as a parenchyma-sparing alternative for anatomic lung resection. This study sought to investigate temporal changes in patient selection, case volume, and outcomes for segmentectomy using the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) National Database.

Methods: The STS General Thoracic Database was queried for patients who had undergone segmentectomy as the primary procedure between 2002 and 2018. The American College of Surgeons Oncology Group definition of high-risk patients on the basis of pulmonary function and major cardiovascular comorbidities was applied. Annual trends of case volume, patient risk profile, surgical indication, approach, and outcomes were analyzed.

Results: A total of 10 629 patients were analyzed from 310 contributing centers. The annual segmentectomy volume more than doubled from <4 per center in 2009 to 8.6 per center by 2017. Lung cancer was the most common indication (70.1%), followed by benign disease (15.6%) and metastatic tumors (14.3%). Although the operative indication remained constant, the subset of high-risk patients (24.5%) decreased gradually over time (slope, -0.6% per year; P = .001). After 2012, segmentectomies were most commonly performed minimally invasively (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, 58.3%; robotic surgery, 19.4%), with a steadily declining use of thoracotomy (overall, 22.3%; slope, -2.4%/y; P = .001). Overall complication rates decreased over the study period from 41.7% to 26.1% (slope, -0.57%/y; P = .001). The overall major complication rate was 4.6% (range, 2.0%-7.1%), 30-day mortality was 1.0% (range, 0.7%-5.0%), and both have been trending downward since 2009 (P = .01).

Conclusions: Segmentectomies are increasingly performed nationally, with a steady decline in the subset of high-risk patients over time. Complication rates have decreased significantly, parallel to the increasing use of minimally invasive techniques by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and robotic surgery.