Background
Sublobar resection (SR) in high-risk operable patients may result in long-term decrease in pulmonary function. We previously reported 3-month pulmonary function outcomes from a randomized phase III study comparing SR alone to SR with brachytherapy (SRB) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. We now report on long-term pulmonary function after SR.
Methods
Pulmonary function was measured at baseline, and at 3, 12 and 24 months. A ≥10% decline from baseline in FEV1% or DLCO% was considered clinically meaningful. The impact of study arm, tumor location, size, approach (VATS vs. thoracotomy), and SR type (wedge vs. segmentectomy) on pulmonary function was assessed using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. A generalized estimating equation model was used to assess the impact of each factor on longitudinal data including all 4 time-points.
Results
Complete pulmonary function data at all time-points was available in 69 patients. No significant differences were observed in pulmonary function between SR and SRB, thus the study arms were combined for all analyses. A ≥10% decline (p=0.02) in FEV1% was demonstrated for lower lobe resections at 3 months, but was not seen at 12 or 24 months. A ≥10% decline (p=0.05) in DLCO% was seen for thoracotomy at 3 months but was not seen at 12 or 24 months.
Conclusions
Clinically meaningful declines in pulmonary function occurred after lower lobe resection and after thoracotomy at 3 months, but subsequently recovered. This study suggests that SR does not result in sustained decreased pulmonary function in high-risk operable patients.